Priestess of Disaster
by Sqydd
Summary: Going to the city of Soleanna for a festival, Sonic did not expect to have to deal with Doctor Eggman, a persistent hedgehog with psychic powers who claims to be the Emeralds' guardian, and especially not a shadow demon that has some sort of "business" with Soleanna's princess. (Do I need to say at this point, it's an '06 re-write?)
1. Festival

_Sonic's Story_

* * *

It wasn't a little-known fact that Sonic enjoyed his sleep. Probably because, running all around the Earth and then some to thwart the Doctor's schemes and save the helpless, he didn't have too much time to sleep. So, Sonic often found himself sleeping very similar to how he ran: wherever the wind would take him. He found it comfortable that way, though Tails always questioned why he never slept in the workshop.

(The workshop wasn't always so—originally it _was_ a house, back when Tails was a littler kit, a legit home where Sonic could raise him. Then Tails grew up to be as much of an egghead as the kingpin pinhead himself, and took up a lot more space with his tinkering, although the upstairs, which held the bedrooms and bath, was still intact. Sonic was sure that his old DJ advertising posters hung within his room to date, he barely went there.)

And, in his humble opinion, after defeating Perfect Chaos, the Biolizard, a whole freaking space station, some wacko aliens, and Metal Sonic (again!), he earned a little shut-eye. Besides, only in his dreams could he have endless chili dogs, and sorry, but that beat snowboarding down a busy city street any day.

In the end, he crashed on a grassy outlook between Emerald Coast and Tails' workshop, folded his legs, closed his eyes, and let the sweet chili-powered dreams ensue. He expected at least a few hours' worth of naptime before his ears twitched to the inevitable noise of the Egg Carrier roaring overhead, howling critter containers waiting to be popped open and an Eggman waiting to get poached, but instead, a high-pitched girlish squeal—an achingly familiar girlish squeal—jarred him back to a space woefully devoid of chili dogs.

"Sonic! So-nic! Look what I got!" Sonic snorted as he woke from his siesta to his most loyal fan holding blurred tickets right to his nose. He blinked the sleep from his eyes to focus and made out the words "Soleanna Festival" printed on them in fire decal. He yawned, pushing himself onto his elbows and scratching his spines.

"What're these about?" Amy pushed them closer to his eyes if such a thing was possible, a wide smile on her face.

"There's a thing called the Festival of the Sun in that city a couple of miles away, Soleanna! There's gonna be fireworks and dancing and food and it'll be the perfect mood for some ro-mance," she mused, a faraway look on her face. Sonic almost rolled his eyes, but he would've been lying if his interest wasn't piqued—at least, by everything except the romance. As much as he liked sleeping, he wasn't going to pass up a festival of fun.

"Sounds cool," he said, catching her by surprise.

"Really?" Her eyes sparkled with optimism as he stood up from the grass, brushing clingy blades from his fur.

"Yeah. When is it?" If she could get any more excited, she might have exploded on the spot. Her quills were already raised to resemble her hairstyle from a year back.

"It's tonight!"

"Tonight, eh?" He bent over to stretch his legs with a grin. "You're giving me too much time there."

"I wanted us to have enough time to do the ceremony, then we could go to the festival."

"Ceremony?"

"Wedding ceremony, of course!" He sighed and shook his head.

"Amy, how many times do I hafta tell you 'no'? Although," he said to her ensuing pout, a little nervous for a sudden chase scene or, worse, a game of Whack-A-Hedgehog with her Piko Piko Hammer, "the festival sounds like a blast otherwise."

"I _guess_." She puffed her cheeks out with a huff. "I'll just reschedule the ceremony, then." He tried to speed past that bit and hid his uncomfortable expression with a slightly off-kilter smile.

"Let's go call Tails to get the Tornado so him and that knucklehead can come around too."

"Humph, fine," she huffed, shoving a finger in his face, "but you _will_ marry me someday, Sonic!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving her off. He took off as the usual blue blur, a trail of dust and a few blades of grass uprooting in his wake. Amy huffed again as her hands fisted at her sides.

"That Sonic! When will he realize how perfect we are for each other?"

Sonic whistled as the four of them soared over the city of water, Soleanna. "Wow, this place is really something to look at," he said, running his eyes over the cool blue water (he didn't like being in it—didn't mean he didn't like looking at it) and the tall skyscrapers making up the city itself.

"It's the capital city of the country," Tails said from the cockpit. "Ruled by the Duke of Soleanna. They have this festival every year to give thanks to their sun god, Solaris."

"Thanks? Isn't it kinda the god's job to protect the people? I mean, I don't ask for thanks every time I save someone, it's just what I do."

"Not necessarily. See, ten years ago, Solaris went on a rampage and almost burned out the city. The data on the attack is kind of blurred—it just said that something angered it and it took it out on the people. The Duke sealed the flames—the Flames of Destruction, which is the power part of Solaris—and its consciousness into two different relics, then he hid them away far enough that it couldn't come back again."

"So what're they giving thanks for? It sounds like a huge jerk to me."

"Heh. You'd know about being a jerk, wouldn't you, Sonic?" Knuckles said from the other side of the plane. Sonic smirked at him as he reclined on the Tornado's wing.

"Hey, Knucks, how's your girlfriend?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You know, the Master Emerald. Not that you've been payin' her much attention lately." Knuckles growled as he got to his feet.

"You—"

"Me," Sonic mused, grinning. Knuckles was just about ready to launch him off the Tornado when Amy interceded.

"Knuckles if you lay one hand on my Sonic I'll crash land you in the city!" Knuckles opened his mouth for a retort, fist clenched, and while his general morals as a man and prideful echidna most likely had a hand in his resignation, the sight of Amy's ready hammer probably helped a fair bit too.

Knuckles huffed and sat down. Sonic scratched his muzzle.

"Thanks for the, err, help."

The Tornado circled around the heart of the city, where five separate canals and rivers converged into a circular plaza. From up above, they could see that the plaza was designed with gold-colored blocks to form the mosaic of an eagle. "That's Soleanna's crest," Tails provided. "And out there, that's the castle for the Duke and Duchess." He then pointed out the silhouette of a great baroque building at the edge of the city.

"The city is so beautiful!" Amy praised with approving eyes. "And I bet it'll look better tonight!"

"Looks like every other ugly city to me," Knuckles remarked gruffly.

"I agree—with Amy, not the Grinch over there," Sonic said. "I'm surprised I never ran past this place before, it's pretty solid."

"And look—this is Kingdom Valley," Tails added as they passed the town and headed north of it. Far less distant was a collection of ruins, what were once grand castles of dark stone with expansive plazas and towers with stained glass windows that reflected beautifully in the sunlight. Below and around them were great lakes that sparkled like precious metals in the overhead sunlight, plus tall grassy cliffs and platforms which the wind whistled through audibly with an ominous note. Giant eagles soared about the area on the currents, although they made a consensus to avoid the Tornado.

"This was where the royals used to reside. After Solaris, the place was wrecked as you can see, and on the Duke's orders, they rebuilt their homes closer to Soleanna. He felt that the people would better appreciate their close presence after the tragedy. To the west of it is a great jungle where the canals and tributaries in the cities pour into, giving it a lot of life and growth," he said, pointing out a vast rainforest of all shades of green and more colors of the rainbow, visible from their height. Some flowers looked to be shining with an odd internal light.

"Jungle? It probably has a lot of icky bugs," Amy said with a shudder.

"Wow, good on the research there, little buddy!" Sonic praised, earning a bashful laugh from Tails as his ear flicked to the side.

"I just wanted to be well informed. Not that I ever pass up a good research opportunity."

Tails landed just outside of the city in a verdant field surrounded by lofty rocky cliffs. A few townspeople and soldiers were hanging around, but overall it was barren. Sonic hopped from the wing and onto the soft ground, humming appreciatively. "Wait," he said as the others started towards the city. "Lemme run a few circuits first, get a chance to drink in nature."

"Huh? That'll take too—" Knuckles started, but before he finished the sentence Sonic was standing beside him, clouds of dust and grass in his wake.

"Humph, I think I lost some speed on the fifth one." He grinned and rested his elbow on Knuckles' shoulder. "What do you think, Knucks?" Knuckles pulled from Sonic and grumbled crossly as he stalked towards the city. "So is that an agreement or what?" Sonic called after him.

"This place is nice though." Tails fluttered over to Sonic's side. "The city and the field. I wonder why we never heard of it before?"

"Hey, we're always learning new things, bud. Who knows what can happen tomorrow? The world might be broken into pieces and I'll turn into a wolf-man…-hog." Tails laughed.

"I think your imagination is running faster than you." Sonic slapped his back lightly.

"Hey, you never know. Well, we got a lot of time before the festival, so let's be tourists for the day! You don't get to see much of this up on Angel Island, Knuckles, you should check out something new!" he said to his still disgruntled echidna friend.

"I'd rather be checking out my Emerald before the Doctor catches wind of my not being there and decides to have a surprise visit," he complained, crossing his arms with spikes point-out. Sonic gave him an amicable pat on the back, or at least attempted to before the highly-trained echidna swerved to the side without batting a scowling eye.

"C'mon, Knuckles, Eggman's still lickin' his wounds from the whole Metal Sonic shebang. You know how hard it is for him to build robots when I'm always breakin' his factories." He snickered at the thought. "He usually gives two, three weeks of radio silence before peeking his mustache up for another round."

"Doctor Eggman is nothing if not unpredictable," he pointed out, making Amy hesitate. Sonic sighed and let his arms fall to his sides, a very familiar grin rising to his face. It was the grin that coaxed Knuckles from his island and Tails from his workshop in the first place.

"All the more reason to have fun while we can, right? You too, Tails. Mystic Ruins gets pretty boring after a while."

"Are you saying the largest area of echidna and Chaos history is _boring?_ " Knuckles said with the indignation as if his mother's grave had been defiled.

"When you run through it two or three or…a couple dozen times, yeah, anywhere can get boring." He shrugged passively. "But that big hole where Angel Island fell back then makes for a good swimming pool after a rainstorm. Race you guys to that bridge over there?" He didn't wait for a response or the surefire knuckles to his scalp, instead speeding off ahead of them.

"Sonic! Wait for me!" Amy called, chasing after him. Tails started after them but stopped, turning to the sky. Knuckles followed his gaze and saw, a great distance from them, the shadow of Eggman's airship.

"Why is he here?" Tails asked. "There isn't a Chaos Emerald or anything, is there?"

"I can't sense any around," Knuckles replied, looking towards the city. "But it can't just be the Emeralds, can it? This city does have a lot of lore."

"I don't see Doctor Eggman grabbing the princess," Tails shrugged. "Other than that, there are the relics which seal the halves of Solaris, but one is heavily guarded and restrained deep in the catacombs of the old castles, and the other is completely unlabeled— _I_ couldn't find anything on it no matter how much I looked, and that's saying something."

"Well, I don't believe he's here to see the festival," Knuckles muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then again, he's pretty far away… He may just be passing the city." Which neither of them truly believed.

"Let's keep an eye out anyway. You never know what Eggman's up to. He can start trouble faster almost faster than Sonic can run." Knuckles nodded in agreement. Then Tails flashed him a smile characteristic of his older brother. "In the meantime, let's enjoy the peace and watch this festival. It wouldn't hurt to." Tails rose into the air and followed Sonic, who had already crossed the bridge and was waiting at the city gates. Knuckles stared at the airship for a few seconds longer, mitts clenching on his upper arms as his bent tail twitched impatiently.

 _If there is a Chaos Emerald, that means that she'll be here too._ He scowled at the thought. _Probably on G.U.N. business, but most likely to annoy me. Hopefully this time, she can be an asset,_ before trudging away.

* * *

 _Shadow's Story_

* * *

"So this is the City of Water," Rouge said, her heels clicking against the stone-paved ground. "What do you think, _partner?_ "

"I _think_ that all focus should be on the mission, not the scenery," Shadow retorted, crossing his arms. Rouge pouted, using her wings to get a few feet ahead of him and forcing him to stop.

"Not all G.U.N. missions put us in a place as nice as this," she scolded with a smirk, hands on her hips. "And I'm sure you didn't get a good view of nature while you were frozen in time or falling through space, did you? Why not take the opportunity while it's in our faces? Hang around, try the local food, watch the festival?"

"Festival?" he asked, if for nothing else than to get her moving again. Rouge's smirk widened as she gestured forward. Ahead, the city square was alight with life as lanterns were set up and a boat resting in the center canal was being repaired and cleaned. On ground level near the center of the plaza, around the great eagle stamp in the center of the cobblestones, several dancers practiced their routine with an eager crowd bearing witness.

"The Soleanna Festival of the Sun. If you tried listening instead of brooding and grumbling about everything under the sun, you would've heard every single townsperson talking about it." Shadow rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms, but Rouge, having become highly accustomed to his moods, pressed on anyhow. "It's going to be a celebration. Food, games, performances, the works."

"Like a…carnival?" Rouge was as surprised as Shadow. Her heels hit the ground hard as she sidled up to him.

"You know about carnivals?" He shook off her intimacy with a fiercer scowl than usual, driving his gaze into the masonry path like a jackhammer.

"Maria told me about them," he said vaguely, his new tone of voice telling her to drop it. For a bat, however, Rouge was much like a dog with a bone.

"Is this a glimpse into your rock-hard exterior I'm seeing? Wow, hon, that's about as rare as Knuckles shunning the Emerald." An ear twitched as he grumbled under his breath and she tried to put on a more serious expression, only succeeding in a slightly less jocular one. "So, you've never been to one?"

"…No," he admitted after a long stretch of silence, folding his arms across his chest. His shoes clicked a steady beat in the background as he added, "This is my first time."

"Then have fun, it's simple as that," she said cheerfully. "—Hey," she said when she didn't receive a response, cutting in front of him. "You can allow yourself to enjoy life a little, you know. I'd expect you to be more open to the idea while knowing your memories can disappear in a snap," she frowned. He blinked at the statement, temporarily speechless, until Rouge relented with an easier expression. "Just let go for once, Shadow."

"There's no time for that." He easily waved off the affair. Rouge pouted.

"It's funny that the one who nearly died falling from the ARK and who's lost his memories more times than he can count is here talking about time." She didn't enjoy playing dirty—with Shadow; she loved playing dirty whenever possible otherwise—but he was being more than a stick in the mud.

"Bat," he said, a warning.

"I'm just saying, as you very well know, time can be taken from you in a second. Take me for instance: a gorgeous treasure hunter by day, dashing government spy by night." She smirked when he snorted. "Both are dangerous jobs that can take my life at any second. So, I enjoy it while I can." Shadow didn't reply right away, instead looking pensive. Rouge took that as an opportunity to press on. "And, like I was saying, the festival was created in honor of their god, Solaris."

"The same god that may be revived if we keep dawdling," Shadow interrupted.

"Just because the Scepter of Darkness went missing?" she replied, stepping back to allow him to proceed but keeping pace right behind him. "It's a valuable artifact _anyone_ would kill to get their claws on if they knew the legend behind it. And speaking of that legend, very few know how to release Solaris in the first place, and less know where the Flames of Disaster are sealed." Those two were included in the majority as well. They were only permitted the bare minimum of information on the mission. "G.U.N. is making a big deal out of such low circumstances."

"Not taking any caution at all is foolhardy."

"Please," she scoffed softly. "I steal jewels from some high-class places, sweetheart. My whole job is being cautious."

"Then you should have no problem doing so now. Let's find the princess already, Rouge."

"Yeah, yeah," she said to the Ultimate Grouch. "Sheesh, would it kill you to loosen up a little? Knuckles is less wound-up all the time." _Well, I doubt Dr. Gerald Robotnik went through the effort to program "fun" into him, but I'd assume he would've learned as much from all the time he spent with a little girl_.

"The sooner we do, the sooner you can waste time in this festival."

"Aww, Shadow. I'll buy you a cotton candy if that'll make you feel better."

He took a few forward steps before coming to a rigid stop, quills raised slightly as his head snapped towards the northwestern sky. Rouge instantly went on-edge, ears pricked into the air to listen for danger. "What? What do you see?" His eyes narrowed to scarlet daggers.

"Dr. Eggman's airship." Rouge drifted a few feet into the air and, yes, there was the shadow of it several miles away. As eccentric as the man could be coming up with borderline juvenile schemes to take down a fifteen-year-old hedgehog, she doubted he was there to watch the festivities. She glanced back at Shadow, who was now tapping at his wrist communicator.

"You don't think…?"

"That _he_ has the Scepter? I wouldn't put it past the good Doctor. Neither would I put it past him to unleash a highly malevolent entity to meet his own ends, damn the consequences to the innocents."

"He pretty much did when he released you," Rouge said, but it was halfhearted as she focused on his airship. "Omega's still waiting in the wings. If the Doctor does try anything, we just stop him. It's simple."

Shadow didn't agree or disagree, clenching his fists. If it involved Doctor Eggman, _nothing_ was simple—that much was a given. Then again, wherever Eggman went… "Sonic follows," he finished in a mutter. Rouge looked at him in confusion.

"What was that?"

"If Dr. Eggman is here, so is Sonic." A coy look suddenly crossed her face as she hummed in contentment.

"And if Sonic is here, so is Knuckie," she murmured appreciatively. "This is turning out to be a real party." She went ahead of Shadow to the city plaza while he turned to examine an old building. The front of the roof was carved with what the citizens believed Solaris to look like.

"What kind of god turns on its own people?" he wondered aloud, staring hard at the carving as if it could answer. The fine details, however, were not his concern. He was with G.U.N., meant to protect the Earth as Maria wanted, and if he accomplished that, the "who" or "what" was irrelevant. Even if he had to ally himself with the people he despised most after their last stint not six months ago, it was a reluctantly trusting partnership that allowed both sides to reach their ends: protecting the nation. He sighed through his nose as he kept moving through the city to, as was required of him, protect Princess Elise until the Scepter of Darkness was recovered.

* * *

 _Silver's Story_

* * *

Silver blinked away the grogginess as he sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. He was first aware of an odd salty scent, then the intense burning sensation of strong light ahead of him. He scrambled backwards, expecting to be three inches from a pool of lava, but instead he was staring at…the sky? It was directly above him, but he had never known the sky to be so…so… _blue._

"What's…going on…?"

He looked around and felt a sharp pain in his head that forced him to lower his eyes. He looked up a little and realized the blinding light was coming from the sky too, a yellow ball of fire, and although it hurt when he looked directly at it, it didn't harm him otherwise. He stood and felt the ground under him give a bit. He jumped back, expecting lava-softened dirt, but instead the ground was all pale sediment, edging along a very, very, _very_ large body of bright blue water. He stared at it in wonder as he slowly approached it, feeling his boots sink slightly into the sediments as he dipped one glove in the water. It wasn't hot like he was used to, but when he tasted it it was gross and salty. He coughed, spitting on the ground.

"Where am I? What happened? The last thing I remember is a bright light… Am I dead!?" He grasped his head as he shook it hard from side to side. "Nonono I can't be _dead!_ I was too young, I didn't get to kiss a girl…!" He broke out of his self-loathing for a moment as a deathly sound resonated through his ears. He raised his head and saw a huge ship silhouetted against the sky heading north.

"Wait, I don't think ships can die… So, I'm not dead," he muttered, following it with his eyes as it headed towards a continent in the distance. "But surely I'm not in Crisis City anymore. I wonder if…" He held his hands out and felt a familiar cold chill run up his skin as aquamarine energy formed around his extremities. A blob of salty water rose from the ground, quivering a bit before he fully locked it in place.

"So that still works," he said, letting the water fall back to the rest. He looked around him and saw rocky cliffs in the distance surrounded by what he guessed was foliage—he hadn't seen much of that where he was from. Speaking of, wherever he was had to be another _planet,_ because as far as he travelled across his home, he never saw anything like it before. The color palette was a complete one-eighty for one thing, and there were no—

"Oh!" he cried in surprise, jumping back and using his powers at the same time to hold himself several feet above ground. But no Iblis Worms jumped out from the ground, nor were there any other of Iblis' Minions lurking in the vicinity. No Iblis Worms? No fire? Abundant water (whether drinkable or not)? He was absolutely _not_ home anymore. "Oh man… Ooh, man," he moaned, looking out to the horizon. "But…I don't understand what's going on. I don't see much out here…but there may be a city out there, over this…water…" He watched the airship continue forward. "Maybe the people on there can help me! Yeah, I'll go up there and ask…" He waited until the ship was parallel with the little slice of land before making himself rise into the air, and he focused his energy—

 _WHOOSH!_ Silver took off faster than he was used too, and a soundless scream escaped him as he crashed against the hangar of the airship, disorienting him for a moment. "That was… That was freaking amazing!" he exclaimed, laughing. "Why couldn't I ever do that before!" He wanted to try it again, but the impact left his body a little sore, so he focused on getting inside instead. He inched himself up to the top of the hangar door and, using his psychokinesis, grabbed hold of the top and pulled with all his (mental) might. Usually it took a lot of effort to manipulate steel, but again he was stronger than he anticipated and opened a hole wide enough for him to pass through in a second. As soon as he landed inside, however, a klaxon blared.

"Ow!" he cried, grabbing his ears as the shrill sound continued, now joined by a flashing red light. An invisible intercom buzzed with interference before a man's voice sounded.

" _I knew you were going to foil my plans again one way or another, you insolent little hedgehog._ "

Silver blanched as the klaxon dialed back a bit, leaving his ears throbbing from the noise. "I don't know you… There's some mistaken identity happening here—"

" _So I came with insurance,_ " he continued, not hearing Silver. Silver heard a series of clicks around the room before the lights flicked on. The hangar was filled with large robots not unlike the Golems he knew, five wide and three rows deep, and they all advanced on him with far from good intentions.

 _They look kinda like that one 'bot Mammoth and I found that day…_ He shook the thought off as their eyes lit with red lights and they stood stiff. _But that 'bot was wrecked, and these guys mean business._ His fingers rolled as anticipation ran through his veins. He could _feel_ the energy inside waiting to be released—he had little doubt that he could flatten them all in one move. _Yeah, that clinches it: for one reason or another, I'm stronger here…wherever "here" is. The Chaos Emeralds must be—_

One of the larger mechs suddenly took a step forward, and due to its size, that one step allowed it to swing at Silver in its next move with a bulky metal arm. Aided by his psychokinesis, Silver leapt over the attack and hovered in the air a moment before swiping his hand across his side, creating a razor blade of energy that severed the mechanical joint from its shoulder with a show of sparks. He raised his hand again to pull its central processor, then hesitated.

"I mean, I'm going to ask him for help, so I shouldn't destroy anything…" As he thought about it, the bots at the front of the line fired several missiles and bullets at him that he automatically caught and crunched into useless metal bits. Slowly, he descended to the ground at the far end of the hangar, a consistent stream of energy causing his quills to stand on end. "I'll disable them. I can…probably…do that."

He waited until the first wave of robots were close, then he slammed his hands against the ground, sending out crackling bolts of energy that shorted them out. They hit the ground to give room for the next half dozen to advance. He flew over their heads and landed behind him, and while they spent too much time turning around he sent out a more concentrated wave of energy that knocked them off their feet and onto their backs. He then toppled crates surrounding them to bury them under a few tons of weight to slow them down.

" _S-Sonic? Where did you learn that trick?_ " the man said, reappearing over the intercom. _Sonic?_

"Um, you have the wrong guy," Silver said, looking around for the speakers. "My name is Silver and I came for some help. I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing here and I just want to go home." _Even if this place is already looking a gazillion times better, I miss my home._ There was silence for a moment, then a hatch near the ceiling opened, allowing an egg-shaped hovercraft through and into the hangar. The occupant of the hovercraft, a bespectacled man with an obnoxiously-wide mustache, gave Silver a once-over.

"Well, unless you got a total makeover, I guess you _aren't_ Sonic," he said after a moment. Silver sighed as he rose into the air, piquing the man's interest as he came to eye-level.

"That's what I said. I'm Silver. I'm lost and I need help getting home. Uh, please."

He looked over Silver again with a derisive scoff. "Hmm? What's in it for me if I help you?"

"Well, uh…" He tapped his fingers together anxiously. He didn't exactly have the world to give at the moment, just his powers, but it seemed the man had some good lackeys in his robots already. And, well, aside from his psychokinesis, he was…borderline useless, as Mammoth and Edmund wouldn't cease to remind him. Silver mulled over his words for a few seconds before finding something he could use. "That Sonic guy you were raving about sounds like a pest."

"Ooh you don't know the half of it." He groaned, dragging a gloved hand down his face. Silver suppressed a smile as his mustache was pulled down and then bounced back into place.

"I'll deal with him for you, and in exchange, you can help me find my way home." He thought about it for a moment, stroking that paranormal mustache, then he grinned with a low laugh.

"Well, _Silver,_ my name is Doctor Eggman, and I believe we have a deal."


	2. Princess

_Sonic's Story_

* * *

"Sonic, Sonic, the festival's starting!" Amy nudged his shoulder hard enough to be a shove.

"Yeah, relax, I'm already watching." Sitting still and watching a show wasn't Sonic's forte, but the townspeople held enough nervous energy for ten of him, as impossible as that sounded. The City of Water's name was emphasized as the citizens shifted from side to side in waves watching the dark night sky for the first sign of color to signal the beginning. Meanwhile, Tails and Knuckles were still stuck in a debate.

"As far as I know, explosions are hazardous and _not fun,_ " Knuckles said, stick in the mud that he was.

"They're made to be harmless! They're just for entertainment," Tails replied.

"So, what, Doctor Eggman is a comedian now?"

"No, Knuckles, they're not the same. Well, they're made from the same elements, but because fireworks oxidize as they explode—"

"Hey, guys, quit it for a second?" Sonic said over his shoulder. "It's about to happen." Soon enough, it came.

"There it is!" Tails exclaimed, pointing at the first burst of scarlet that took the form of a rose. Sonic didn't have to look at Amy to know she was wide-eyed with awe, but he had to admit, it looked pretty good. He heard Knuckles jump to his feet and laughed.

"Re _lax_ , Knucklehead, it's fine—look, nothing's happening." He smiled as he leaned back on the grass and watched a golden heart, dark blue shooting star, and a brilliant orange phoenix fill up the sky. Knuckles sat down after that with a long sigh.

"It _is_ kind of nice," Knuckles said.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic went to clap his back but Knuckles dodged and sent him a mean look. "Well, mostly the spirit."

The townspeople cheered and applauded as somewhere in the background, an orchestra of flutes and violins created beautifully ominous music to suit the night. The song started off loud, then quieted as the last of the fireworks burst and the crowds thinned as the people started attending booths and game stalls. Sonic jumped to his grin. "Well, guys, it's time for the fun to start, yeah?"

They descended the hill and scattered in the town with Knuckles going to a "test of strength" contest (those poor guys ain't know what was coming), Tails went to a RC plane piloting game, Amy went to dance in the town square, and Sonic… He didn't really have a goal—until he saw the chili dog eating contest. He nearly knocked people off their feet as he raced across the plaza to the booth. He was a little late showing up, and the guy in charge said as much, but he quickly caught up and out-ate the other three participants.

"The princess is here!" someone called out as Sonic was about to start on his eleventh dog. He set it down in the meantime (the other three guys tapped out five chili dogs ago, those lightweights) and ran to the top of the booth, giving him a view above the townspeople's heads. There, he could better see the procession. A large boat was slowly drifting down the central canal towards the square with torches set along the railing to illuminate the deck. Five female dancers dressed like fire itself spun and twirled on the wood and a young woman with a fancy white dress and a wide smile that waved at the people.

 _Princess of Soleanna, huh…?_

The music grew even louder and matched the dancers' rises and falls. He grinned as they spun and leapt around the princess. After near-death in space, something as down to earth as a festival felt pretty relaxing. Eventually their dance died down with the music, then they were bowed on the deck with the princess taking center stage.

"We give thanks to this, our tenth year since Solaris' attack, that we have had peace and prospered since then," she said in a loud and clear voice. Short applause and shouts rang out and she raised a hand to quiet everyone. "To all visitors, I humbly introduce myself as Princess Elise Soleanna the Third, the ruler of this country. I thank you for coming and hope that you may enjoy the remainder of what our town has to offer."

Sonic felt a slight disturbance in the air as the applause resumed. He initially chalked it up to paranoia, then realized that paranoia was more up Knuckles' alley, and looked to the side as an explosion happened towards the east of the city. A second later, very familiar mechs rose from the smoke and fire followed by the Egg Mobile. "Greetings, Princess of Soleanna. I am Doctor Eggman and I'm here to collect you." Eggman did some sort of bow-flourish combo that amazed Sonic for the better part of two seconds— _so the Eggster does know manners._ The princess clasped her hands over her heart as a group of guards emerged from the deck of the boat, guns ready. Eggman was undeterred, however, as his mechs brandished even larger and more powerful weapons, and continued: "If you would please step onto my Egg Mobile, we'll make this quick and easy."

"The kingdom of Soleanna won't relent for anyone!" the princess responded. Sonic smirked, jumping to his feet.

"She's pretty cool," he commented. "But it's time for me to take the show!"

Sonic leapt to the ground, and within the same movement he was circling the canal, his blue silhouette catching everyone's eyes like he was a grounded firework. He jumped into the air and curled up to smash headfirst into the nearest mech, turning it into scrap metal, quickly followed by its three friends. He hit the ground for a two-second breather before annihilating the next five 'bots. Eggman growled, hands flashing over a control panel.

"Argh, that insolent little pincushion's always getting in my way!" Fire on him! Blow him into the water!"

A barrage of missiles flowed from a wave of mechs that followed Sonic as he overtook them. He used a mech as a springboard before launching himself up at the Egg Mobile, clinging long enough for the missiles to follow. "C'mon, Eggman, _I_ think we have a great relationship," he joked, waving a finger. Eggman's eyes locked on the missiles coming straight at him and Sonic smirked before upending his Egg Mobile, sending the doctor to the ground and into a roll and letting the thing get blown into scrap.

"Hey, Tails, Knuckles, join the party!" Sonic called. Knuckles didn't have to be told twice and was already dismantling a mech as he spoke, giving him an irritated side-eyed glance in response. Tails soared through the air carrying a cluster of clumsy-looking inventions in his arms, and as he passed over a particularly fungal group of mechs he let them fly. They burst with energy as soon as they touched the ground, shorting out the bots and causing them to hit the ground uselessly. The break in action allowed Soleanna's own guard to step up with guns blazing, taking out the remainder of the little eggy armada. Seeing Eggman was getting thwarted right on schedule, Sonic ran to the princess instead.

"'scuse me for this," he said before taking her up in his arms. She yelped in surprise but clung to his neck as he took off with his usual speed, clearing the battlefield and heading into the quieter residential streets of the city. He glanced over his shoulder and saw nothing in the air nor on the ground chasing after him, so he carefully slowed to a stop, letting her rise on her heeled shoes. "Sorry for being so rough. You alright, Princess?"

"Y…Yes, thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog," she said in a very courteous voice, giving him a bow. He chuckled and bowed in response, although not quite as elegantly.

"Ah. Just when I think there's a city that won't know me, huh?"

"Please! Everyone in Soleanna knows of your great deeds." Sonic laughed again and scratched his nose.

"Hey, you'll make me blush. But seriously, why was ole Humpty Dumpty chasing after you?"

"I…have no clue why," she murmured, fiddling with her gloved fingers. He raised his brows, not quite buying it but reluctant to push. "Nonetheless, I do owe you my thanks for protecting my city, you and your friends. We are forever in your debt."

"Don't worry 'bout it, 'kay? It's what a hero does."

 _"_ _Yes, 'hero'_ — _I wouldn't call you that."_ Sonic whipped around upon hearing Eggman's voice, but they were still alone. He became aware of a faint buzzing noise and a consistent vibration against the crown of his head. He dug his glove in his quills and came up with a communication device printed with his ugly mug. _When did he get this on me?_ Sonic wondered, but it was the least important fact.

"Do you _know_ what being a hero is, Doc? I don't think you do."

 _"_ _Well, it's no matter—this will end in my favor."_ Sonic frowned—his tone was way more confident than usual, especially since Sonic and his friends already wrecked the brunt of his attack force back at the festival. Something was up…

"Oh, how?"

 _"_ _With a bit of a 'secret weapon.' You'll find him to be more than a handful._ " And with a loud and obnoxious laugh the signal cut. Sonic growled before winding up and tossing the device far into the buildings. The Princess looked at him with knit brows and he gave her a soothing smile.

"Don't worry, I can handle anything, Princess."

"Elise," she said softly. "Call me Elise, if it isn't so much trouble."

"Elise," he repeated with a wider grin. "C'mon, if you can tell me where the castle is, I'll get you there in a flash. There won't be much left to enjoy of that festival anyway."

"Mm," she agreed wearily. "The castle is to the southeast, near the bell tower." She pointed at the tower in the distance, which barely stood out against the night sky. He nodded and took her in his arms again, and Sonic tensed his legs to run—

"Take _this!_ "

A wave of teal energy flashed at his sneakers, throwing him and Elise to the street. Sonic was on a knee before he realized what was happening, and with a cursory glance to make sure the Princess was okay ("I'm fine, Sonic sir," Elise replied with a quiet grunt) he snapped his head towards the attacker. It was a white hedgehog with fur longer than Shadow's and with teal markings on his gloves that glowed with a strange energy. It wasn't Chaos—he had done Chaos Control once before and knew what that was like—but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Silver, Silver the Hedgehog," he said before putting his hands out, "and for the sake of Doctor Eggman, I'll eliminate you, Trigger!"

* * *

 _Shadow's Story_

* * *

Shadow was across the city, studying a message from G.U.N., when it happened. His head snapped towards the plaza as a loud explosion rent the air with sound and light, gritting his teeth against the pulsing sensation. "Rouge, prepare for a fight."

"What?" she asked from a few feet away, checking her makeup in a hand mirror. She looked towards the plaza, baffled, before understanding dawned on her. "You've never seen fireworks before, have you? Well, I guess there weren't any on the ARK…"

"Fire-works?"

"They're the good kind of explosions." Shadow scoffed.

"What kind of explosion is _good?_ "

"An explosion of passion," she teased. Honestly, he walked into that one. "Don't you want to watch?" He folded his arms and turned his quills towards her. She was undeterred, however. "Well we're going there anyway. The princess will be there, and it's our job to guard her, _am I right?_ " Shadow refused to acknowledge her and instead turned towards the plaza. The fireworks persisted, followed by a steady stream of music from further in the plaza. His ears swiveled to the sound of applause and laughter.

"Is it really _that_ entertaining?"

"Yup. People travel from far and wide to attend festivals." A second later, a louder explosion sounded, one that forced him to cover his ears. His quills stood rigid as he watched a thin trail of dark smoke curl into the air.

" _That_ was a firework?"

"No," Rouge said, ears erect. " _That_ was the Doctor."

"I thought as much." Without waiting for her he took off, Air Shoes eating up the mileage between him and his objective. He could vaguely hear her over the wind a few feet behind him, but he focused on the distance instead. The tall buildings became a simple blur around him, sights and sounds hitting the backburner as he focused on his speed instead.

Speed… It was the one thing he valued, yet not as much as that faker. _He_ wasn't about being the best or winning—Sonic simply ran for the fun of it, hence the general tedium of their _little_ races. They started in Empire City and ended in Apotos, but Sonic always ended up on top by a foot, merely twelve inches. The most annoying thing, however, was he neither bragged nor laughed it off. Their races ended with the same statement on Sonic's part:

 _"_ _Let's go again soon!"_

He screeched to a stop as the action began, watching Sonic's lackeys as they took down several groups of Badniks. He refused to acknowledge them as good or bad, instead focusing on the closest group of beetle-esque mechs to his left. He grabbed the first and tore it in half, a spray of machine oil dousing the others as they rushed him. He smashed the next few with some well-timed kicks, then took out a row of them with a Chaos Spear.

"Watch out!" A flash of black and white came from overhead and Shadow looked over his shoulder to see Rouge burying her boot in the central processor of a golem-looking robot that stood less than a foot behind him. She extracted her foot from its innards and brought it down on its rounded head, slamming it hard into the paved ground. She expertly avoided the ensuing spray of oil and hit the ground with a smile. "That was a close one, huh?"

Shadow, who was instead doused with the oil, swiped his hands across his eyes to clear them. "These mechs can't hurt me and you know that." Doctor Eggman's robots that were now invading Soleanna were more like human fodder—they could easily overpower the royal guards, for instance, but Shadow was certain that if he'd known Sonic and his friends were there to thwart him, he would've unleashed much stronger ones. He certainly was capable of doing so.

"Well, yeah, but—" Rouge dropped onto her hands before pushing back, drilling her feet into another robot as it approached her back. She righted herself and continued, "I would've expected a _thank you_ regardless."

"Less talking." A circle of mechs three times their size and with heavy arms of steel surrounded them. Rouge pressed her back to Shadow's as the two of them slowly revolved to get a better angle. "Rouge, take off."

Rouge shot straight up into the sky, and without wasting a second, Shadow drew all nearby Chaos energy into his body. " _Chaos Blast!_ " Energy exploded outwards, sweeping across the ground and uprooting the nearby streetlamps. The robots froze as red lightning danced around their exteriors, then huge dents appeared in their centers before they collapsed broke into pieces. A wave of Egg Launchers was waiting in the wings to advance, but before they could release their missiles, pink bombs dropped onto them from above and disabled them with a wave of electricity, and their own missiles took care of the rest. As the smoke cleared, Shadow saw there was nothing left obscuring them from the boat in the center canal, where a group of guards fought off the Doctor's mechs from the princess.

Skating towards her, Shadow was distracted by his shadow, cast on the ground from the nearby torches. Something about it felt vaguely…off, he just had a feeling. It passed soon enough, and he shook it off. From the corner of his eye he saw a blue blur race through the fray and towards the princess. He wouldn't say it aloud, but Princess Elise was safe with Sonic. Meanwhile—

"I found him," said a pale hedgehog Shadow couldn't recognize. He was standing at the origin of the battle but the mechs around were…bending away from him. Shadow didn't know how to put it, only that nothing was touching him as if he held a force field. "The Iblis Trigger." A second later he was three feet in the air, spinning a little before he found his balance and shot off into the distance.

 _That energy… It resembles Chaos, but not quite,_ Shadow thought, brushing bolts and motherboard chips from his coat. _Could he be getting his power from the Emeralds? More importantly, he was referring to Solaris. Solaris's last appearance was nearly ten years ago. What connection could they have?_

"Ugh, Shadow, you should try slowing down occasionally," Rouge grumbled, her heels clicking against the cobblestones as she landed. He didn't respond, only acknowledged her presence. "And anyway, we've now have bigger fish to fry." She waved her wrist communicator. "The Big Guy wants us at the Doctor's base in White Acropolis—believes he has confidential information on the princess."

"Then let's go." He posed to run, then hesitated. "Did you see that white hedgehog?"

"What? What white hedgehog? I was too busy trying to catch up," she said with hands on her hips. Shadow shook his head with a sigh.

"Never mind. Come on."

* * *

 _Silver's Story_

* * *

As the Doctor's airship travelled across the water, Silver was briefed on his situation.

"Well, Silver, from what you're telling me, I'd say you arrived here from two hundred years into the future, give or take." He seemed absolutely over the moon at the thought, probably on account of being a scientist, as he led off the discussion with. Even as a non-scientist, the physics of that world were highly appealing to Silver. Silver, walking along the metal-paneled hall with him, nearly lost his footing.

"Whuh— _Two hundred years?_ That's— That's ridiculous!" he exclaimed. "A few seconds ago I was just in my hideout, and now I'm basically in prehistoric times!?"

"Prehistoric times would be at least fifty-three hundred years back but— Nevertheless, this is amazing news from what I can glean. You say your future is enveloped by flames, yes?" Silver nodded slowly, eyes still wide. Doctor Eggman rubbed his shiny head with a sad expression. "I believe I know what's the cause of that."

"Well, yeah, it's Iblis. Everyone knows that."

"But do you know how Iblis came to be as a monster devastating your timeline?"

Silver froze, then shook his head. "N…No, no one remembers, and it's not written down." He stopped moving and the hovercraft slowly lowered to the ground, a small staircase dropping from the side to allow him to descend to the ground. Despite the somber moment, Silver's cheeks puffed with laughter—the Doctor had the perfect shape of an egg. _I guess the "Eggman" name isn't for nothing,_ he thought, covering his mouth. Eggman's brow twitched but he didn't say anything on the matter.

"At this point in time, the god Solaris is sealed in two forms: one is here on my ship, the Scepter of Darkness, for safekeeping. The other is the form you know, the Flames of Disaster, and it resides in Princess Elise of Soleanna, which is where I'm heading now. I have reason to believe the people of Soleanna intend to release Iblis for their own gain, and I, being something of a local hero to the people, intend to stop them."

"What? They want to _release_ Iblis?" Cyan energy cracked off Silver's form as he clenched shaky fists, eyes narrowed. The walls around them creaked and groaned, and the Doctor lost his footing a few times and had to grab his hovercraft for support. Silver rose some inches from the ground as his powers spiked out of control with his temper. "They can't be in their right minds! Iblis is a terror, a plague! That's why it's called the Flames of _Disaster!_ Why in hell would they want to do that?"

"I'll explain! Just calm down!" Eggman shouted over the sound of crunching metal. He had the same expression of shock and fear that he recognized from people that witnessed Mammoth Mogul's real strength. Back in…ahead in the future, Silver had only a fraction of the mammoth's psychic abilities, but here, in the present, he was _a lot_ stronger. With a few deep breaths, the dangerous rattling ceased, and Silver returned to the ground with his powers out of sight.

"S…Sorry," he muttered, staring at his shoes. Eggman cleared his throat and quickly composed himself.

"N-No matter. But those are some interesting powers you have, Silver. Where exactly do they come from?"

"Inside me." He paused. "And the Emeralds too. Wait, there are Emeralds here, right?"

"Of course." Silver looked up to see Eggman's surprised expression. "You're saying all your abilities stem from the Chaos Emeralds?"'

"Uh…yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah." Eggman stroked his moustache thoughtfully.

"Very interesting…I must research this later…"

"Um, Doctor Eggman, you were talking about people _trying_ to release Iblis…?"

"Oh, right, right." He leaned over the hovercraft's console and hit a few buttons there. The machine whirred back to life and floated the opposite way from them while Eggman gestured Silver onwards. "I have no idea _why_ they're trying to do it, but my intent is to stop them. Of course, they're not in on this alone: a certain blue hedgehog and his friends are also joining in to cause their usual brand of trouble for me—the world." The Doctor's tone became icy enough to freeze lava at that last part.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that hedgehog's this Sonic guy you hate, huh?"

"Indeed," he borderline growled before catching himself and returning to his level explanatory tone. "If anyone will succeed in restoring Iblis, it'll certainly be him. He can run at supersonic speeds and react just as fast. By getting rid of Sonic, you'll not only be helping our timeline, but yours as well."

"That's all there is to it?" he asked with wide eyes. "Getting rid of Sonic, then my future will be fixed?"

"Exactly. And once that's done, we can get to work on returning you to your proper time." They reached a set of steel sliding doors which Dr. Eggman opened with a keypad, revealing a control deck. A half circle of shiny buttons and levers spread below a wide glass windshield that looked out at a _ton_ of green foliage below. "I'm on my way to Soleanna now. We should be able to see it in…now."

Silver levitated to press himself against the glass and saw the tops of tall buildings and a castle in the distance. "We'll be there by nightfall," Dr. Eggman added.

"Alright." He hit the ground and clenched his fists with determination. _By nightfall, my future will be fixed. By nightfall, I'll have to…kill…this Sonic the Hedgehog._

* * *

Sonic looked too slow to be "The Fastest Thing Alive," but Silver took the Doctor's word for it as he kept his guard up. "So, you're the Egg-ster's new 'bot," Sonic said, stretching his legs.

"I'm not a robot!" He aimed his hand at a nearby streetlamp and pulled it free from its foundation, letting it spin towards Sonic at a high speed. As the Doctor said, he was extremely quick, dodging the lamp and coming at Silver in the same movement. He raised an arm to block Sonic's foot but was forced to drop it as he didn't expect the sheer force behind him—stupid move on his part. A huge welt began to form on his elbow as Sonic swung again, this time with his fist. He seized Sonic's entire body psychically to halt him in the spot. "It's no use," he said, rearing towards the back. "Take _this!"_ He tossed Sonic far, far back.

"You're not half bad!" Sonic rolled into a ball to lessen the impact as he collided with the street, performing a tight U-turn to come back towards Silver. He saw he couldn't stop Sonic, not at the speed he was going, and instead grabbed a nearby parked car and switched it to his path. Sonic had to jump to avoid it, which broke his momentum and allowed Silver a good grip on him in midair.

"It's no use," he repeated, holding Sonic in place as he tried to get a good angle on him. "I've been training for a long time to fight monsters way stronger than you."

"Stronger than _me?_ " Sonic repeated with a grin. "Those guys must be hard to come by." Silver clenched his fist, tightening the hold around Sonic's neck to force his head backwards. It wouldn't choke him yet, but it would get him to be quiet.

"And…" He looked over his shoulder and noticed the street was empty. He remembered seeing Sonic with a girl, but he couldn't tell if she was important or not. Well, it didn't matter—his focus was on Sonic.

"Nice—light show you've got," Sonic choked out, the grin never leaving his face. "Where'd—you learn—that?"

"—My powers come from the Emeralds," he answered after a minute. "I'm their guardian."

"What?" he asked, his expression twitching as he tried to move his face. "I thought—that was Knuckles?"

"Knuckles? Knuckles the Echidna? I've read about him in history books," Silver muttered to himself.

"What?"

"What's it matter to you? You're going to the Doctor." He swung Sonic around and slammed him to the ground, finally slowing him down as the impact left him stunned. Silver raised him up once more, preparing for the blow that'd knock him unconscious, when he became aware of a distant source of Chaos. It wasn't distant for too long, however, until he felt a heavy-duty fist strike the back of head between his quills. The force was like a truck to his skull, and the next thing he knew he was lying on his face trying to figure out which way was up.

"—only favor I'll give you, blue hedgehog," a deep voice called as it faded away. Silver groaned, disoriented, and tried to regain his balance, but his energy only sparked uselessly from his fingertips and spun off in different directions. He heard Sonic hit the ground and speed off but couldn't focus enough to get to his feet.

 _I'll catch up though,_ he thought, clenching his fists. _To stop the one who summoned Solaris in the first place!_


	3. Resolve

_Sonic's Story_

* * *

"Sonic!"

Sonic spun around to see Tails flying towards him. He raised a hand in a wave as his friend hit the ground, Miles Electric in hand. "Tails! Where've you been all night? I was worried."

"Eggman's robots were starting to cause serious damage around the plaza, so Amy stayed on the ground to help the citizens get away while Knuckles and I hopped in the Tornado, and with a little hacking I made them all follow us to the desert. We ended up farther than we thought, so we slept there and just came back to the city."

"A desert? Isn't there a jungle and…well, a beach?"

"The canals around here are manmade," he explained. "They redirect the water to the city area so it can be purified for drinking, and it also ends up feeding the forest. Because of that, the desert area doesn't get any water." He seemed happy to go back on an educational tangent, then his attention was drawn to Sonic's face as he really looked at him. "What happened to you?" he asked, pointing at the bandage on the side of his head.

"Yeah, that. Doc found himself a new friend." He relayed his fight with Silver and his odd powers to Tails, who was visibly troubled by the thought. Trying to play it down, he added, "But you know I came out on top, as always. And I managed to rescue the princess too."

"That's what I was about to say! She _didn't_ make it to the castle." Sonic's mind came to a halt and he stared with wide eyes.

"What?"

"That's what the maids said anyway. She was last seen around the clock tower, and this was early into the morning. Even with G.U.N.'s watch—"

"Hey, wait, slow down. Shadow and Rouge are in town?" He raised a curious brow.

"They're supposed to be, at least. I, uh, caught wind of their mission report." Aha. Tails wasn't exactly supposed to be _catching wind_ of G.U.N.'s private reports. Sonic folded his arms at his sheepish grin but let it slide for the time being.

"Then she's safe, right? You can't get a better team than Shadow and Rouge—well, maybe with Omega too."

"Thing is, with Eggman being at large around here, G.U.N. might have switched them around. You're still in town, so they can have faith in you protecting her instead." Sonic's mouth tightened into a thin line and his fingers curled into fists against his sides. Tails hovered a few inches in the air to rest a hand on Sonic's shoulder, instantly abating his anger. "You'll get her back. I believe in you." Sonic couldn't fight back his replying grin as he ruffled Tails' head fur.

"Not like the Egghead's gonna be winning for long with all of us around. Where're Knuckles and Amy anyway?"

"Amy, I'm not sure… Knuckles said he heard some information on Eggman's new scheme and went to investigate. In other news, guess whose airship was spotted over the coastline?" He held out his device to show security camera footage of a massive mechanical silhouette sliding over the beachside buildings.

"Eggman," he muttered, clenching his fists. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's get to the beach!"

"Well… That's the thing," he said after a moment. "The beach isn't right next to the city…"

"What? Then where is it?"

—

"—Wow. Okay," Sonic commented numbly as they reached the pier. Across a daunting stretch of ocean was the beach, and as he watched Eggman's ship go further and further away, all he could focus on was that blue wavy deathtrap. "Just fly me over, right?"

"Sorry, I have to hold the Miles Electric. In case Eggman gets too far, I can still track him with the GPS. You can run across water, can't you?" he said with a somewhat pointed look.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I like it." He moved forward until he was toeing the edge of the pier, and while Tails looked completely indifferent he felt like he was already twenty feet under. "Wh…What about the Tornado? Can't we take it over?"

"It took some damage and it won't be fast enough."

"Well what about—"

"Sonic, Eggman is getting away!"

"I know! Alright!" Taking a deep breath, he grabbed Tails' arm and ran. For a scary second, his sneakers dipped below sea level, then he was skating across the water, the salty spray painting his face and soaking his fur. Soon enough there was loose sand dipping beneath his feet and he was speeding down the coastline of Wave Ocean.

"You're going to have to move faster!" Tails said, breaking from Sonic's grip and keeping pace in the air. Sonic gave him a thumbs-up before putting the pedal to the metal, his legs blurring into a Mobius strip as he became more of his signature "blue blur." As expected, Eggman's windup toys started showing around the rocky edges of the beach, but they were easily disassembled with some well-positioned Homing Attacks. He reached another clutter of piers that were close enough together he could get between them with some well-timed jumps, so he didn't overthink things until—

"A whale?" he said, surprised, as an orca trailed behind him, ravaging the pier and annihilating any idea of backtracking Sonic might've had. "What is this, Emerald Coast?" It more resembled Adabat in how much the structure melded with the ocean. Well, it _was_ called the "city of water." He briefly fantasized of a "city of chili dogs," which surely would've been a perfect getaway.

"Sonic!" Sonic raised his head to the sky where Tails hovered with an armful of bombs. "This was also a trade port some time ago—that gate over there prevents ships from coming in, and it can keep the whale from getting out!" He pointed to a metal gate blocking the water a couple of miles away. "You get over and I'll hit the switch to shut it!"

"Got it!" He caught sight of several springs and picked up the pace, letting the orca eat away at the boards until he reached them. He used his forward momentum to increase his launching distance as he hit the first, followed by the second, but before he reached the third, all the piers were smashed by the killer whale's tail. He jumped into the air, scanning the scattered springs, and had a lightning bolt of inspiration: he used the boards instead, tapping them so quickly they broke into pieces while launching him ahead. The orca spun with a confused wail as Sonic came down on it, gripping it firmly by the dorsal fin and steering it towards the gates.

 _C'mon Tails, hurry,_ he thought, looking around. He caught his friend making his way through waves of mechs on the sand and cliffs, lashing out with his tails and bombs when he was flying. Sonic followed his progress until he reached the gate, and before the orca broke from his grip, Tails hit a switch. The massive metal gate gave a moaning creak as it slid down, and when it was about to shut, the orca bucked, launching Sonic through the opening. He landed on the other side on the palm tree-covered sand and took a knee. Above, the droning of Eggman's airship reverberated through his ears.

"Darn! We're not going to make it!" He growled and braced himself. "Let's speed up!" He ran like he hadn't in a while, letting the wind ruffle his quills and feeling the sand barely give beneath his sneakers, he was passing over it so quickly. Eggman's mechs looked like they were moving in molasses compared to him and he easily dodged their missiles and projectiles, shifting between trees with practiced expertise. He reached a loop-de-loop of stone with nothing but ocean beneath and, gritting his teeth, hit the water with a skid. His momentum carried until he reached the stone, allowing him to run the whole length of it, and he carried on as soon as he reached the sand.

 _I'm gonna rescue you, Princess Elise._ He saw a ramp coming into view and tensed, ready to launch himself at the airship—

"It's no use!"

Sonic's quills raised as a sense of dread filled him. He couldn't just stop at his speed, not without going into a wild tumble, but glancing upwards and spotting a familiar white rodent above, he had no good feelings about his situation. A low rumble began behind him, quickly growing into a loud roar; a sideways glance revealed it to be a wave growing taller and taller by the second, already as big as a building. He saw another ramp coming up and sped even further until there was a sandstorm surging in his sneaker's wake. He reached the ramp and took one step on the weathered wood before his legs froze up on him. Literally. He was completely immobilized as the wave crashed over him.

He tried to kick his way onto the sand but the water was almost grabbing him, dragging him into the ocean. He looked up at Eggman's airship, blurred by his air bubbles, travelling farther by the second without him able to give chase. _Elise,_ he thought. Soon enough he couldn't see that anymore as black spots swelled in his vision and his limbs went heavy.

 _"…_ _nic…"_

 _"_ _So…c…ke…"_

 _"_ _Sonic…wake…"_

 _"_ _Sonic wake up!"_

Sonic blinked into the sunlight, which grated his eyes like the sand, and slowly shook his head side to side. He blinked some more and suddenly Tails was in his peripheral, his expression concerned. "Are you alright?"

"I guess so," he said after a few seconds, his voice a little raspy from the seawater he swallowed. "Eggman got away?" Tails nodded.

"What happened? I saw you lock up, then there was this _massive_ wave, whish should've been impossible because of the place's geography—"

"Yeah, well, Eggman's new friend, that silver hedgehog I mentioned before? It looks like he has more tricks up his sleeve than anticipated." Tails pressed his lips together and shook his head slowly. "You have any idea where he might've come from? I'm pretty sure if there was a hedgehog like him around—and he looks about my age—we'd have known by now."

"I can't think of anywhere short of space." Tails shrugged it off, but his expression was a little skewed at the thought of a question he couldn't answer. "If anything, I'd say his powers are Chaos-related since he said he's the Guardian of the Emeralds, but—"

"Knuckles is."

"Yeah…" He sighed. "How can you fight a guy like that, if he can throw around anything and keep you from running?"

"Dunno, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." It was more like a bridge spanning a canyon, but one step at a time here. "You can still track him, right?"

"Uh…yeah." He checked his Miles Electric as Sonic cleared his ears of water. "It says he's in…Dusty Desert."

"A desert, huh? Well, it beats being here." He got to his feet with a quick bodily analysis. His throat was a little sore from swallowing seawater and his back ached from hitting the sand, but nothing too major. He bounced on his heels a moment before revving up. "Let's get over there!"

* * *

 _Shadow's Story_

* * *

Doctor Eggman had no shortages of bases, as any animal habitant could vouch for. He needed somewhere to mass produce his mechs, after all, and as fast as Sonic was, as encompassing as G.U.N. was, they couldn't shut down the factories faster than the Doctor could build them, and G.U.N. suspected he had many under its radar. Presently, they knew of two that had yet to be destroyed: Aquatic Base, built two years ago some hundreds of miles off Soleanna's coast with sea trenches as its cover, and the semi-administrative one which Shadow and Rouge were heading for, White Acropolis.

The base was situated a few hundred miles north of the country of Soleanna, outside of its tropical climate zone. Shadow supposed the subzero temperatures helped regulate the heat from smelting metals used for building mechs, as did the ocean's cooler undersea water. It was built from titanium like a massive military bunker with only one set of doors, and those were guarded by three separate fences. The closest fence was tallest and topped with barbed wire, and the furthest ended an estimated fifty feet from the furthest searchlight. The way to those fences was through a winding pathway of frost and snow, squeezing through two mountains with several dozen 'bots and laser gates extending far beyond the base's reach. Shadow had to give credit to the Doctor, he knew when to cover his bases when he wanted.

G.U.N.'s helicopter dropped them off an hour's run from the furthest sentinel patrol. (Well, an hour for Shadow at a reasonable pace; for Rouge, he couldn't be sure.) Snow settled lazily on Shadow's fur as him and Rouge stepped from the grey and black stealth vehicle, and the pilot saluted them and wished them luck before returning to the dusky sky. Rouge let out a displeased noise as soon as she touched the cold, her wings pulling in tight against her body. "Are you sure you're not cold?" she asked, huddling deeper in her furred parka.

"It would laughable if the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't handle below-average temperatures."

"This is _arctic,_ not _below average._ " Shadow simply snorted in response. She left things there as they ascended a hill, giving them a bird's-eye view of his base. Tall sentry towers ran searchlights over majority of the area while the base was behind a giant chain link fence topped with coils of barbed wire. That was a couple of miles away; between them and the base was a field of the Doctor's robots. They were, after all, within the belly of the beast.

"So what's the plan, Shadsie?" Rouge asked, glancing at him. He leered at the nickname but didn't comment.

"Go in, get his information, and crush anything that gets in our way."

"Of course," she smirked. "What else did I expect from you?"

"Since you can fly, you'll go ahead and disable the laser gates. I'll disable his robots."

"Got it." She flexed her wings before launching into the air. The nearest mech swiveled at the shadow she casted under the glow of the moon, but by the time its turrets were aimed, Shadow had already buried his shoe in its CPU. He pulled free and somersaulted away, dodging the ensuing spray of oil as the mech crumpled to the snow. The next two units turned towards the noise as Shadow ran forward. They fired four streams of energy bullets that shot wide of him as he sped forward, then turned to the side and braked to a quick stop. A wave of melted snow surged from his feet and splashed across the robots, freezing them in place seconds later.

"First gate's down!" Rouge's voice broke through the night. The distant magenta glow dimmed before being reduced to nothing, then Rouge's white and pink form flashed in his peripheral before disappearing around a rock formation. He slid past the two remaining robots, fully aware of them stomping in pursuit, and skated through the gate seconds before it reactivated, sending waves of electricity through the mechs that instantly disabled them.

The rest of the way was child's play with their teamwork. None of the Doctor's robots put up a decent fight—then again, they were mere patrol units, and the two of them had yet to reach the base itself. Finally it came down to the final laser gate, and as the beams died down, Rouge landed in the snow behind the cover of some stacked wooden crates. Shadow joined her in a crouch, looking past them and at the first steel gate that ran the widest perimeter of the White Acropolis.

"How much did you see?" he asked.

"There aren't any more than the same garden variety robots in there as out here." She jerked a thumb at the building, one side of her mouth quirked upwards. "Although they're in much thicker numbers. If the searchlight catches you, you'll get swarmed, and even your strength won't match up to that many mechs at once."

"Then we take out the searchlights first."

"That won't exactly work. The searchlights are wired with alarms—smash one, and it'll go off."

"Either way, we'll be announcing our presence. Let's head in and destroy the searchlights."

"Starting off with a bang…I like it." She stepped behind him and linked her arms beneath his, lifting both from the snow. The broadest gate surrounded the perimeter plus some yards from the furthest mech patrol unit. There were two searchlights on either side of the entrance, and Rouge dropped him off on the first before heading over to the second. He quickly assessed the scene: there was nothing too deadly out there, then again, Shadow didn't toss the word "deadly" too often. Not many living things were outright deadly to him. He raised his leg, letting his Air Shoe blaze like a crimson beacon before slamming it into the glass lens. The light exploded into a shower of crystals, and a second later, a klaxon blared throughout the base.

 _Don't make this too easy for me, Doctor._

Three searchlights in the distance abruptly swiveled, letting their gaze converge around Shadow. He was made the spotlight of the snowy tundra as the bipedal 'bots revolved in unison and tramped over to him, guns aiming as they moved. He didn't give them the time to try. He jumped and hit a mech instead of the ground, his foot planted deep into its inner workings. He pulled free and side-swiped another in the same movement, and a third he blazed with the energy from his shoes. Before he hit the ground the nearest mechs were already a wreck in the snow.

The masses of robots obscured his vision somewhat as he attempted to see past them and to the main building. He was only too eager to leap back into the fray, fists and feet blazing as he took down wave after wave that blocked his path with precise punches and kicks backed by Chaos energy. Machine oil showered him at one point, but the heat radiated from the bots melted the snow enough to wash it away. He watched the other searchlight blow out before collapsing, followed by Rouge's pink figure before she blended into the snow, succeeded by an explosion of snow and smoke that scattered metal shrapnel into the air. While they were both well trained, they couldn't last the whole night fighting off Doctor Eggman's robots. He needed a faster method to mow them down.

A distant roaring sound droned in his ears as it quickly grew closer. Shadow tensed and somersaulted into the air as a Jeep raced beneath him, driverless but deadly. Rocket mounts on the sides shifted up and fired before he hit the ground. He kicked the first, sending it spiraling out of control, and took the second, whirling around before launching it into the first. They exploded into a massive cloud of grey smoke and white light, followed by a gust of hot air that threw off his landing somewhat. As the air cleared, the engine roared louder than ever, and Shadow strafed to the left as the vehicle barreled past. The Jeep whirled around and headed back at him, headlights glaring like the eyes of a beast, and Shadow tensed his arm before launching a Chaos Lance at the snow ahead. The blow threw it off track and sent it skidding before it came to a complete stop, where he jumped into the driver's seat. He easily reprogrammed the Doctor's A.I. and the vehicle was his.

Hitting the gas and shifting gears, Shadow moved through the snow not much faster, but markedly easier as taking down mechs became as simple as crushing them under the grille. He spotted another search tower coming up and aimed the reloaded missiles before firing, skirting from the falling range as the metal crumbled. Rouge took out the last one, plunging the base into darkness as he headed towards the main sector. Rouge glided down to keep pace with him, dusting off her coat.

"Nice wheels," she observed with a sly smile. "You plan on taking a girl out in that?"

"Considering you're the only one around, no." She was stricken at first, then caught his smirk and gasped in faux surprise.

"So you can be funny too… How cute." His smirk instantly vanished at the remark. "Yes, the Ultimate Grouch can be _cute._ I regret nothing."

The Jeep ate up the remaining distance until the snow turned to paved roadways and the robot guards thinned. Soon, they faced a towering chain-link fence at least ten feet high. "There are the gates. Rouge, disable the locks." She was already on it, crawling up the power unit as he drew closer. She planted a bomb on the surface and launched away as it exploded in a shower of electricity, causing the gates to jam. They were still closed though, and Shadow stood up before jumping from the seat, allowing the Jeep to crash into them missiles and all. An explosion sounded from the site and the cleared smoke and scattered snow showed twisted metal remains.

"Ready, Shadsie?" Rouge smirked, her heels digging into the snow. He ignored her jab and stepped into the belly of the beast. He had time to note the steel-columned walls and freight crates before the sound of static filled the area.

 _"_ _Ah, Shadow, Rouge, I knew GUN would send operatives for me,"_ came Doctor Eggman's voice over a PA system. The broken gate rolled out of the way as a new spear-tipped fence shot up from the snow and twenty feet into the air. Shadow looked away from it and at the center of the wide expanse as the snow shifted around a metal platform rising from the ground. _"But to get to my information, you'll first have to get through my guard dog."_

The platform finished ascending to reveal another of the good Doctor's mechs, a giant rusting mecha-mutt with a red streak going up its back. Glowing eyes shone through the night like beacons as it growled, one paw tearing up the snow and nearby idling mechs.

"You focus on getting into the base," Shadow said to Rouge without turning. His Air Shoes glowed with energy, as did his fists and eyes, if you could count the flame of a good battle in his scarlet irises. " _I'll_ teach this dog some house manners."

* * *

 _Silver's Story_

* * *

Silver thought he had things figured out. With some critical thinking—being aided by Doctor Eggman's texts didn't hurt either—he found that not only was there a Master Emerald in that world, but the seven Chaos Emeralds still existed freely unlike his two-and-a-half, and as the guardian of said Emeralds, his connection was stronger than ever. That was why his powers were so strong…at least, he thought so. There weren't any other psychokinetic hedgehogs hanging around to bounce theories off of.

Well, either way, he didn't exactly need to fully understand his new abilities (which weren't really _new,_ just extensions of his old ones) to use them to defeat the Iblis Trigger and his evil friends, including the black hedgehog with a fist like a brick wall. (He loathed to imagine what his kicks would feel like.) Even if he did understand them, they were only temporary—once he returned to his time, he'd be back to levitating things no bigger than Worms and stuff. But at least he could say, it was fun while it lasted.

Suddenly the Doctor's alarms were ringing in his ears. Silver leapt to his feet with a startled noise as his voice blared through the system: _"Silver, get to the hangar A.S.A.P.!"_

"Y-Yeah, on it, Doc!" He stumbled blindly for some minutes, the airship's design still foreign to him, before reaching the emptied hangar. The Doctor must've released his mechs already while he was otherwise occupied. The latches released with dual pressurized hisses as the ramp slowly lowered, revealing the same beach he woke up on earlier. Below was a trail of demolished mechs stretching as far as miles beyond, and at the forefront of it was a blue blur— _the_ blue blur. He understood Eggman immediately and raised his hands, letting the Chaos energy flow through him. He couldn't stop Sonic mid-run, but he _could_ trap him with other methods.

"It's no use," he muttered before repeating it, louder. He mentally seized the ocean and dragged it forward with all his strength, his body pitching to the side. For how much stronger he was, it was still a major effort, and he felt a knee-weakening migraine form from the effort. A tsunami formed from the energy exerted, towering over the beach with no escape. Sonic came to a stop and it crashed down, and Silver caught a glimpse of him before his body was swept beneath the waves.

 _He'll come back though… Doc said he's a lot harder to beat than he looks._

He sniffed, then sniffed again as his nose continued itching. He moved back from the hangar to allow Doctor Eggman to close it and noticed his nose was bleeding. He wiped it onto the back of his glove as he walked, a little wobbly, back to where he was, when:

 _"_ _Silver, I believe Sonic the Hedgehog will next come to my location in Dusty Desert. In the meantime, his other friends should be prone in Soleanna. We could use that to our advantage."_

"Meaning…?"

 _"_ _Head to Soleanna and find either Knuckles the Echidna or Amy Rose. See what weaknesses you can get from them, and use them to your advantage."_

"That's kinda…I dunno…evil," he remarked. Eggman didn't respond, but a distant mechanical click sounded he almost didn't notice with his ears still a little numb from the klaxon. The vents around the ceiling opened and shifted in unison before releasing a powerful jet of air that felt like one of Iblis' yawns. Silver was caught off guard and the pressure send him flying through the still open hangar, sending him spiraling towards the rocky cliffs of Wave Ocean. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, stunned, before he used his psychokinesis to right himself. Still he wavered in the air until he found his "legs" so to speak.

"That guy," he muttered, shaking his head. He gave himself two minutes of orientation before gathering the Chaos in his body once more and launching himself back towards the city.

* * *

"Hey, are you okay? Open your eyes! Wake up!"

Silver groaned as he was unceremoniously flipped onto his back, muttering something incoherent to himself but involved the words "too early" and "smoke alarm," then he was stunned awake as what sounded like a two-ton mallet was slammed down next to his ear. He lurched into the air, his energy barely sparking as he prepared to fight…a young pink hedgehog.

"You're awake!" she said with a wide grin, undeterred by his powers. Well, he guessed she was good in the defense department: her big pink hammer was proof enough. He let the energy bleed away until his boots hit the ground.

"Uh…what's going on?" He looked around and realized he was in Soleanna, or rather, one of its back alleys.

"I found you passed out here," the hedgehog explained, which didn't make sense. He remembered flying back to the city from Doctor Eggman's airship, which wasn't too major of a distance…at least, he didn't think so…and his memories kind of blotted out from there. His muscles felt strained too, and his head was kind of sore—he recognized the feeling as running dry of energy, which meant one thing.

"Oh—" His stomach growled, cutting him off. He placed a hand on it with a nervous laugh. "—wow."

"You're pretty hungry huh?" She laughed. "How long has it been since you ate?"

"Uh…" He was trying to figure out how to translate future-time into present-time—he ate in the future five minutes before he found himself in the past, so did that mean four hundred years and five minutes or five minutes or…?—and failed dismally. "Let's just say a long time."

"Don't you have money to buy food?" He tried to calculate future money into present money, and considering the financial system of the future was practically nonexistent, that failed dismally too.

"Nope."

"Then I'll buy you something to eat. Come on!" She was fast for something so small, then again, he heard all hedgehogs were fast. He jumped, planning on following her from the air, but instead gained a bruise on his behind. He got back to his feet and tried running, but that thing he read about hedgehogs didn't quite apply to him, someone that spent _way_ more time training his mind than his legs. The girl stopped, looked back at him trying to keep up, and took pity. "Hurry up!" She gripped his arm and pulled him along.

"H-Hey! Slow down a little!" He stumbled a few times—how could that small girl move so fast? Jeez—but majorly managed to keep her pace. In the back of his head he wondered where her hammer had gone—it wasn't like her little red dress had room for that thing. He wanted to ask, but she kind of scared him. "Where are we going?" he panted.

"This cute little café I saw near the canal! It should be around here…" She finally slowed as they reached a cluster of small stores and buildings, allowing Silver to lean against a streetlamp and catch his breath. He silently (because he still couldn't speak) vowed to start working out more as she exclaimed, "Right there!" and pointed at a store with a white and gold-designed awning and several outdoor tables. "Right there," she said, tugging him towards a table right next to the protective railing around the canal. They sat down and a man came and greeted them before setting menus down and asking what drinks they wanted.

"Pink lemonade," she answered, then looked at Silver.

"Uh…" He looked at the drinks in confusion—he hadn't heard of half of those things. The present sure had a lot of options. "Cola?" The man nodded and said he'd return in a few with their drinks.

"You aren't from around here?" The girl tilted her head to one side.

"Yeah, uh, how'd you know?"

"You've had this baffled look for a long time now." _Oh wow._ "Where are you from?"

"Ah… Not that far. Some things are familiar, but mostly I'm really, _really_ lost. I'm supposed to be looking for some people too—" The man returned with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. She looked at Silver's helpless expression before ordering for both of them.

"So why did you come to Soleanna?" She played with her straw while watching him expectantly. He took a gulp of cola and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow, this is really good! I mean, uh, I guess fate brought me here?" He personally didn't mind telling he was from the future, but he figured a normal average person wouldn't find it too believable. Heck, _he_ barely found it believable. He sucked down the cola until the glass was empty and pushed it away.

"Maybe it was Solaris!" she suggested happily. His eyes flashed blue, then a streetlamp burst not too far away. A nearby dining couple jumped at the noise, then hustled away with lingering shock. Both turned to the commotion, but Silver recovered first.

"I'm not…a fan…of Solaris," he said carefully, trying not to make it obvious that he was from the future and had a few bones to pick with that god. Maybe he had better subtlety skills than he thought, because she seemed clueless all the same.

"Why not?"

"Um…well…" He was saved as their meals arrived. She had a salad, and for him was a brown broth with chunks of meat he wasn't too sure of. He'd tried reading up on the unusual species that existed pre-Iblis, and Doctor Eggman's library was certainly expansive enough to hold the information, but his brain wasn't eager to absorb it. He unfolded a spoon and ate a hesitant spoonful.

"But you must've come for the festival, right?"

"Um, well, maybe…" It had to mean something that Silver was dropped off at this specific point in time at this specific place in the world, he supposed.

"See!" She beamed, and he got the feeling she enjoyed being right. He continued to eat in silence for a moment, finding the unknown meal quite nice after all. It also helped that he didn't have to first catch it while dodging Iblis Worms and such. When he was warm and satisfying full, he added with a hesitant tone of voice, "I didn't expect to come here, but I don't really regret it either. It's so…bright, and I can see the sun, and there's a lot of water, and people are _happy._ "

"I guess you're not from a very bright place?" she half-smiled. He laughed a little, staring into the glass.

"Not really. Where I'm from is pretty…dark, in all senses of the word." he said after a moment to choose the right words. "People drag around, don't have much to look forward to, the world's pretty bleak, and there aren't any hopes."

 _Ghosts. He might as well call them ghosts for all the life they showed, dragging their feet down the ruined streets, tarmac still bubbling from the extreme heat that filled the air during the day and only slightly dulled at night. Silver's quills twitched as the humans huddled into the shattered remnant of a skyscraper, sealing the entrance so they could sleep without fear of being fried._

 _"_ _It could be worse," he told himself, the words that kept him moving for the last ten years of his life. But as he soared through the air, the smoke that polluted the atmosphere felt like it sucked the life from his lungs with every breath, and every earthbound glance involved more destruction, more bodies lost from smoke inhalation and burns, more pained screams, more_ nothing…

"What do you mean, _there aren't any hopes?_ " She was now on the table and in his face, startling him backwards and causing him to flop to the ground, chair and all. She sat back in her seat with folded arms and a decisive huff. "Obviously, you've never heard of the world's one and only hope, who _also_ happens to be my boyfriend!"

"Uh-huh…?" He felt lost, and not only because of the forming bruise on the back of his skull. She caught herself and moved over to help him up, and he righted the chair under him. He didn't feel too badly injured, but concussions worked that way.

"Sorry about that, honestly! Could you call this meal a make-up gift?" She folded her hands together and smiled with a tinge of nerves. Well, he didn't want to be mad at a kid, and he'd taken worse hits the other day.

"Yeah, water under the bridge."

"Great!" She clapped her hands together, then her smile turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name—it's kinda stupid of me." She laughed a bit.

"It's okay. I'm Silver, Silver the Hedgehog. And you?" She gave a little flip of her styled quills.

"My name's Amy Rose!"

 _Crack!_ His glass exploded in a shower of aqua energy and shards. She covered her face as he stared back in open-mouthed shock.

 _Oh, brother, I'm in trouble._


	4. Chaos

_Sonic's Story_

* * *

The sun boiled his skin beneath his fur and irritated his softened quills as he ran across the sand. His shoes, designed to resist friction up to supersonic speeds, cried out in protest, but Sonic pushed forward until he reached the more solid sandstone ruins. He raced up a crumbling pillar to get a better view of Dusty Desert, which—surprise, surprise—was sand, sand, and wow, _more sand_. He never thought he would dislike any part of the ever-changing, ever-amazing planet Earth, but all this damn endless sand was pushing even his optimism.

"Tails, what exactly am I looking for?" he asked, spotting his friend among the clouds. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun as Tails lowered himself to better be heard. Sonic couldn't imagine how he wasn't complaining, what with his three-inch fur and being way closer to the sun than himself.

"A building," he answered with all possible ambiguity. He might as well have said any one of the billions of grains of sand. Sonic gave a short laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh…any more details there, buddy?"

"It was once a shrine of their god Solaris," he added, "so now, as a bunch of ruins, it should still look extravagant."

"A fancy temple, got it." He leapt back to the loose grit and restarted his race, Tails close at his heels as they tore across the orange and red-blurred landscape. "Man, I know the Eggster's done some trippy things in our lives, but messin' with gods feels like he's pushing it a little. Next thing ya know, there'll be a giant tentacle monster ripping apart the world."

"Again, Sonic?" His exasperated tone was thrown off by his smile. "Now you're being dramatic."

"Hey, it could happen. Nothing's impossible if you believe…in the good Doctor's craziness." Sonic noticed a cluster of mechs coming into view and grinned. "Ready for some action, little buddy?"

"Way ahead of you!" Tails replied with an armful of bombs. Sonic braced himself before racing forward, braking slightly to circle the bots and letting centrifugal force keep him going. After a moment a whirlwind built up, kicking up dust like nothing else, and the airstream became so great the heavy metal monstrosities rose into the air. Tails let the bombs loose within the tornado and they swirled about before exploding in a long chain that sent bits and pieces flying as the mechs were totaled. It took care of the first wave, but there still existed more machines to smash downwind.

"I'll keep the way clear!" Tails yelled as he hovered over Sonic's head. "You get to Elise!"

"Gotcha!" He evaded the biped bots and sped across the red-hot sediments with a sandstorm trailing him. After a while, the backdrop became minutely more pleasing as red cliffs rose to his left, giving him some sort of marker to follow as more and more ruins appeared within the dust. He saw some structures that still had solid bases, and more often he saw that weird symbol of Soleanna, the phoenix-looking thing in the center. He wondered idly if that was what Solaris looked like.

Soon the air grew still, which Sonic took to mean something was blocking it. True to his guesswork, he saw a majorly intact building loom into view. It was made of slate and stone unlike everything else, and the temple's doors were being guarded by two colossal automata. _Eggman sure stepped his game up,_ Sonic thought with a grin, ducking behind a thick pillar. _Must be more than the princess in there. If so, the Doctor's most likely got tons more robots—I can't go setting them all off. He'd catch wind fast and whisk Elise off somewhere else. I hate to say it, but looks like I've gotta be sneaky around here…_

His feet didn't follow the same train of thought, however, and before he knew it, he was curled into a ball skidding across the ground, two mechs with big circular spaces in their central processors behind him.

 _Guess I should've given my feet the message first._

Sonic unraveled to hear a klaxon sound from inside the temple. He didn't have time to wonder how Eggman could build an alarm system inside of a ruined temple before the heavy doors creaked and slid open with dual groans, sand spilling from the stones above as red optic sensors glowed from the gloom within, followed by a throaty rumble.

"Ooh, Eggman has a new doggy, does he?" Sonic jeered, bending his knees slightly and slapping them. "C'm'ere, boy, come here!"

A machine, that could under no circumstances but the darkest form of humor be referred to as "doggy," crept into the blazing sunlight. Its exterior was dark, almost black, and accented with red that matched its shining eyes. _"Sonic, meet my special little pet,"_ said Eggman's voice from some sort of loudspeaker device on it. _"I call it the_ Egg Cerberus _."_

"It's not like I need to know the name to smash it to bits, but nice little fact right there." He bounced on his feet before building the momentum to leap up and curl into a tight ball, then propelled himself forward into the Egg Cerberus' snout. It growled before bucking and swinging its body to the side, smacking Sonic like some sort of dog-bat and sending him shooting into the sand. "Blech! Ptoo!" He jumped to his feet spitting out more sand than there was on the ground. "Excuse me, but do you know how hard it is to get sand from between quills?"

Sadly, the mechanized mutt didn't care as it rushed Sonic in turn, massive jaws opened to reveal a triad of conveyers bearing razor-sharp teeth, circling the mouth cavity like chainsaw blades. Sonic dove out of its range, letting it dunk its head into the sand, and worked on a strategy. "Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows," he said aloud as he spotted a red trail running up its back like an airplane landing strip. Coincidentally, it also pointed at a horn-like glow stick stuck to the top of its head. If anything screamed _boss's weak point,_ it was that little slipup on the Doctor's part.

Sonic homed in on the Egg Cerberus' tail and, using it as a ramp, skidded up its body on his heels until he could latch onto its "horn." Egg Cerberus rose from the sand with a loud bellow, causing Sonic to cringe and tuck his ears in, then it started bucking and thrashing madly. _Gotta think of something…something… There!_ He focused on a large Solaris statue to their west that looked solid enough to take its weight. "Git along, li'l doggy!" Sonic whooped as he steered it like a rampaging bull. It was hard, but he directed Egg Cerberus' springing to one direction, keeping it trumping forward until it smashed bodily into the statue.

"Guuh!" it roared, giving one final leap that had Sonic flying into the sky. He quickly managed to right himself in midair and saw he had dented the Cerberus' snout and blown out one of its optic sensors. He landed on the peak of another statue, one of three situated at the compass points of what must have been the temple's courtyard. A huge section of crosshatched stone showed through the sand, enough for five of Eggman's hounds to stand shoulder to shoulder.

"Hey, you robot flea-bitten mutt! Over here!" Sonic called, waving his hands excitedly. He didn't know if the robot understood him or saw its meal had moved, but either way, it charged across the sand. He waited until the mech was halfway over before lunging forward and gripping its antenna with a hand, swinging around until he was nestled in the crook of its head. Egg Cerberus started thrashing all over again, but like before, Sonic piloted it into a statue, which exploded into a shower of stone and sand as he was tossed to the ground and the giant robot reared backwards. He didn't manage to curl up in time and the impact had pain shooting through his back and into all four limbs. He waited until the moment passed before jumping to his feet, spinning a little from some unexpected vertigo.

Egg Cerberus snarled, hitting the sand again. Portions were taken from its exterior by the debris, creating big holes in the metal that caused electricity to escape from its circuitry. Its charge was unstable this time, rocking slightly from side to side as its remaining optic sensor flickered in an out of life. Sonic stood perfectly still, a true feat for him, with arms crossed and a blank expression. Then, as it grew close enough to stomp him, he spin dashed into its chest. He resurfaced on the other side with his gloves and quills filled with chunks of its motherboard.

"That," Sonic said with a broad grin, "is how you make your own _off_ button."

The Egg Cerberus didn't appreciate his humor as much as he did, and collapsed onto its side and went motionless.

"Well, to each their own." Sonic dumped the pieces and shook himself clean before returning to the temple doors, which were still wide open. A cold draft greeted him before he raced inside, finding a worship room with an altar decorated by the phoenix symbol and with several uncomfortable wooden pews, and two primitive bathrooms, then finally a stairwell leading to a basement. Then he froze, because though it was obvious the basement was of Eggman's designs with several lab tables of machinery and towering shelves of books, half of which strewn across the stone, there was no Eggman or Elise.

"Darn!" He growled and kicked a table. It went flying across the room before colliding into a wall with an ear-grating screech. "That overgrown bucket of bolts was a distraction!" Maybe it was the noise, but another klaxon was triggered. He let out a word he'd never say around Tails (or Amy for that matter) before returning to the blazing sunlight. Tails was already waiting for him, waving the Miles Electric madly with a frantic expression.

"There's a whole horde of bots coming! I guess Eggman hid them in bunkers under the sand. Did you find Princess Elise?"

"No. He gave me my own distraction and bailed with her." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the blistering landscape behind them. "Think you can find them?"

"Ah…no," he said dismally, tails falling. "He didn't take the airship—whatever he used, it's disguised well."

"That's okay. We'll head back to the city and find some clues there, alright? Well, after we turn those bots into metal tuna," he added upon seeing the blot on the horizon. Though he had to admit there were a lot, and after fighting the Egg Cerberus, he wasn't in top condition. Tails noticed his expression and nodded once.

"I'll distract them and meet you back in Soleanna."

"Tails, that's a lot of robots."

"I've got it! I was taught by the best after all," he said proudly. Sonic beamed and high-fived him.

"And you know it! Just don't thrash his bots too bad—if the old Doctor starts cryin', I wanna be there to see!" He was gone in a Sonic second.

 _Where could he have taken Elise?_ he wondered as his sneakers kicked up clouds of dust in his wake. _I don't know the country that well, but I heard the old castles are in ruins now—they'd be the perfect spot for the Eggster to take root._ Then, _I wonder why Eggman brought her here in the first place. Did he think Solaris was sealed here? Nah, he's too smart for that, but since he's smart, it means coming here is part of some big plan… Well, it's freaking Eggman—he'll blurt it all out eventually._

The sand turned into brown grass, which turned into green grass after a while, then he was stepping across the wet bridge into Soleanna. He decided if anyone should be tracking Eggman, it should be the royal guards, and he passed through the plaza on his way to their center. He expectedly had to slow as the crowds thickened about the center of the city, which allowed him time to grin and return greetings as citizens gave them.

 _Honestly, though, this place isn't half bad. Elise ain't runnin' a bad ship here. This place feels like it should have a permanent rainbow over it. I wonder why Solaris was ever mad at them in the first—_

"It's _you!_ "

Sonic braked a second before a familiar aqua glow took hold of him. He didn't have time to inhale before he was hurled backwards into a streetlamp, contorting the metal by the force with which he was thrown. The impact left him dazed and nauseous as he hit the river-slicked cobblestones.

"T…That hurt," he mumbled into the ground, forcing his head up. Silver's boots clunked into view from an odd angle, or maybe that was his head's spinning that made it look odd. He was defenseless as Silver seized him by the shoes, most likely to drop him into the waterway. If he touched that water, he was a goner, checkmate. "Stop…you don't…"

"With you gone, the future will return to normal."

"I'm…not…" But he knew he sounded pretty feeble, and was about to close his eyes when the absolute last person he expected cried out:

" _No!_ "

* * *

 _Shadow's Story_

* * *

Shadow's shoes burned dual tracks into the thick blanket of snow as he spun a wide arc about the Doctor's mechanic mongrel. He intended to use one of the posts embedded into the thick steel wall as a jumping point, but the machine, despite its dilapidated appearance, had incredible reserves of speed: before Shadow could react, it had batted him aside with its tail. He crashed into one of the numerous stage lights around the area before catching himself, swinging around the frozen metal before skidding to a stop on the ground.

 _It's fast,_ he thought with a scowl. _Oddly fast for something the Doctor's constructed, and for something so damaged. There's more to it than appears…_

He had to get closer to investigate, but it would be hard to do so with a mech that moved and hit at a fraction of Shadow's own power. He glanced over and saw Rouge working the security systems holding the base's doors together. "How much longer, bat?"

"Still a while. Got a lotta guns to take out, ya know?" She smirked back at him, but he could see the strain beneath her features. Not that the Doctor ever slacked in security—the overabundance of mechs, however technically inept at times, was proof—but he'd pulled out all the stops there, meaning there were surely several valuable bits caged inside. It was all the more reason to get inside, but first, he had a mongrel to mutilate, and he would have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Shadow activated his shoes, shouting, "Trigger a gun turret now!" Rouge looked perplexed, but she was used to him enough to do so without question. A heavy-duty machine gun slid out from a wall panel and began blasting at the door. Rouge kicked off and soared into the air within a moment, which was enough time for Shadow to leap onto the turret's back and rip out its central programming, rendering it stationary. He wrenched it away from the wall and hit the ground, hefting it beneath his arm with another up for stability. Then he let loose on the Egg Cerberus.

"Guraah!" it bellowed as the specialized bullets easily tore through its rusted hide and into the machinery beneath. Its joints buckled, and with an expansive shockwave of electricity that had Shadow and Rouge ducking for cover beneath the snow, it fell.

"That was…oddly easy, even by Doctor Eggman's standards," Rouge muttered, brushing smoldering metal strips and snowflakes from her petticoat. She peered at the doors again with a slight smile. "But good news is, it looks like the dog's electricity jammed the electronic systems. Now we have to open the doors manual—"

"It's not over yet," Shadow interrupted curtly, throwing a cautionary hand out as the Cerberus' optic sensors returned to life, this time a strangely familiar shade of blue. It rose with none of its earlier stiffness, then it opened its mouth to release a ball of shocking blue light. Shadow seized Rouge by the wing, the closest part to him, and dashed out of its immediate path. The light exploded in the snow, melting it and scorching the dirt beneath for thirty feet around.

"And I thought _I_ was hot," she muttered, carefully pulling from his grip and shaking her wing out.

The Egg Cerberus' outer plating rattled out of place for a moment as it shook itself out, then it resumed firing at a higher rate, sending out several balls of energy that alternately destroyed mounds of snow, of supply crates, and huge chunks of the steel wall shielding the base. Shadow gritted his teeth as one attack drew unnervingly close, causing him to lose his balance and skitter a little. The huge Cerberus stomped down in his path, nanoseconds from missing him, but he was agile as ever and powered his shoes on the sides, strafing to the right to get under its belly. He drove his left foot upwards into the chink between leg and abdomen, but the beast took it in stride and leapt away, hitting the snow at a skid. He met its gaze without faltering and took a new stance.

"You think you got this, sugar?" Rouge shifted a little behind him. He snorted, giving her a quick side-eyed glance before returning to his stare-off with the Egg Cerberus. "Men," she huffed with a smirk as she returned to the door, drawing a Heart Bomb from the folds of her coat. "I should only take a couple of minutes."

"I will only take one, so make it faster."

"Sure, honey," she drawled uncommittedly as Shadow leapt back into action. He gave an experimental kick at the beast's haunches to find its hide infinitely tougher than before, not to mention scorching. Then again, he was the Ultimate Lifeform, he had fallen through the Earth's atmosphere and not been reduced to a crisp, so the heat didn't affect him too much. The mutt snapped its jaws, full of razor-sharp blades revolving in shredding circles, missing Shadow by inches as he leapt onto the crest of its arched back. There, he found an antenna that glowed cerulean.

 _Now_ this _is more of what I expect from Dr. Eggman,_ he thought, grasping it with one hand. It was connected to the bot's central programming, because with the contact a slight electric jolt jumped through Shadow's fur, then the Egg Cerberus was hopping all over the arena. He braced his shoes and pulled, directing it towards a thick pillar embedded into the wall, and the machine slammed into it hard enough to jolt the area. Shadow went flying from the impact, but he quickly righted himself and hit the ground running. Bolts and other assorted bits fell from the Egg Cerberus as it reversed, nearly trampling him on accident as it tried furiously to regain its bearings.

"Graah!" it bellowed, letting loose another light sphere that moved much faster than the other. Shadow swerved, but quickly found also unlike the one before, this one followed him to some degree. Still, it was elementary to jump into the Cerberus, causing the attack to rend its own exterior. Chunks of molten metal exploded from the impact, one of which crashing down feet from Shadow's intended path. The swerve he made to avoid it threw him right in the path of the rampaging robot, and he watched one of its paws come down at him. He threw his arms out instinctively to catch it, feeling the weight immediately bear down on him.

" _Chaos—Blast!_ "

Red-hot Chaos energy burst from his body, repelling the Egg Cerberus and sending both of them flying in opposite directions into the wall surrounding them. Shadow shook himself off, snapping one of his bent quills back into place as he watched the Egg Cerberus struggle to its feet. _That's never happened,_ he thought irately, pushing himself to his feet. _As far as I know, Chaos energy can only repel…_ His eyes widened fractionally, and he looked at the Egg Cerberus with new comprehension. _Of course. This glow, this strength—Doctor Eggman has redone an old model of his, courtesy of a Chaos Emerald._ He vaguely noticed it had begun to snow again as a slight smirk crossed his face. _Now that I know what I'm dealing with, this can be handled sooner._

"Chaos Spear!" He hurled a golden projectile of razor-sharp Chaos energy at the robot, who took it in the side. The Emerald inside had a consequent rebound that knocked it off balance and had it stumbling to the left before it tripped over its legs. Shadow used a metal crate as a kickoff point and whirled into the air to deliver an axe kick into its left optic, shattering the glass and destroying the mechanisms within, and spun away in the next movement, skating backwards to put large distance between them.

"Gwaaah!" It struggled to lunge headlong, but Shadow's earlier blast had annihilated any likelihoods of moving on its front leg, and it crashed into the snow with a white flurry on either side of it. A few halfhearted Chaos Blasts of its own were fired in a feeble effort to repel an advancing Shadow, but he effortlessly zoomed past them, the subsequent flare-ups edging his jet-black figure with light and snow as he came down on the mutt mech, Air Shoe first, letting it blaze with the most energy he could fill it with at once.

Shadow connected with its antenna, causing waves of gold and red Chaos energy to course through its body. For a moment, the gem's own energy surfaced, then it couldn't manage anymore with the vessel it had been given, and the Egg Cerberus' eyes went dim as its body slumped into the freshly fallen snow. Shadow traipsed over the arch of its back and, flexing his fingers, dug them into the thick titanium plating and wrenched it free, tossing it aside to reach into its central circuits. His hand returned black with oil but illuminated by the cyan glow of another Chaos Emerald.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rouge asked, her voice soft with allure. Instead of responding, he Chaos Controlled over to her spot, arm extended. She was so used to the technique she didn't bat an eyelash.

"This appears to be where it was for a while now. The Doctor revived a failure of his with it."

"Is that so?" She attempted to retrieve it before Shadow held it from her reach. "It's not a smart thing to hold a jewel from a jewel thief, honey."

"I'd like to see you take it from me," he retorted easily, sheathing it within his quills. She pursed her lips but shrugged a shoulder, like _I kind of saw it coming anyway._ "The door?"

"Opened." She gestured to the smoldering hole big enough to fit them inside. He was the first to slip through, landing in a lightless room dimly lit by several machine lights. Rouge was in next, and with the flick of a switch, they were staring into a computer lab. The main computer was quickly activated and hacked into, courtesy of a certain bat, and on it they found what was essentially a traveler's guide to Soleanna. "The old Doctor's sure been planning his vacation for a while," she remarked, taking her hands from the keys and resting them on her wide hips. "Well, he's been awfully silent since his last defeat by Sonic's hands, so I could picture him setting all of this u—"

"Wait," he interrupted, clicking on a folder called _LGNDS_. Inside was a collection of photos, news clippings, and stories on Solaris' sightings within the country. She hummed in interest while his scowl deepened into an unsettled frown. They had had their suspicions, sure, but could Doctor Eggman actually be that senseless? It was unbefitting of his genius I.Q. to bank his success on a damn _deity_.

"Well, well, his newest scheme is using a god to take over the world." She folded her arms and chewed a part of her lip. "This is…wow, very much wow."

"The fool." Shadow growled and crossed his arms in one sharp movement. "For a man with a three hundred-plus I.Q., he doesn't think much past his own needs, does he? Solaris was sealed away for a reason." Rouge sighed.

"You know the Doctor: He never does think too much. Not that it concerns me as much as it does Big Blue." He quickly rounded on her, more to burn his existing frustration than at her words.

"Have you forgotten, Rouge? Sonic may often be the quickest one to the scene, but it is _our_ job to stop Solaris' revival from happening, and he's already two-thirds of the way there."

"It's been a few days since we've last heard anything from the mainland—I'd assume Sonic would've gotten the Princess back by now." She shrugged, but sounded a note anxious. "Besides that, for him to have been able to find the Scepter in that wreck of a place past Soleanna's guards…" She trailed off as the obvious occurred to her: when it was Doctor Eggman, little was impossible.

"We're going to retrieve the Scepter of Darkness," he said with finality, slamming his fist into the console. The glass of the monitor exploded and the room was once again bathed in darkness save for the red of his eyes. "We're going to Kingdom Valley."

* * *

 _Silver's Story_

* * *

"Amy?" Silver choked out as her fearsome hammer came into sight aiming at his face. He threw himself backwards to avoid getting pulverized, and the movement affected his powers too, pulling Sonic away from the water and sending him sliding across the slippery ground. Silver backpedaled on the floor, one arm out to fend her off as she stalked towards him like a predator. "Wha—What are you doing?"

"I should be asking _you_! Trying to hurt my Sonic!"

"Your— _what?_ " He was lost, he was just plain lost. Amy huffed before running over to Sonic's side, checking on him. "Amy, do you know who that is?"

"Sonic!" she said without missing a beat. He dragged his hands down his face, suddenly feeling exhausted. He didn't want to hurt her, Amy being a little girl and all, but she was kinda totally screwing with his plans.

"Okay, remember I said I was from somewhere far away? Well, look—"

"I don't care!"

"Amy!" he repeated, getting to his feet and waving his hands in frustration. "This hedgehog is the reason my world is destroyed! He _caused_ the world to be destroyed!"

"That's crazy!" She rose to her feet as well and jabbed a finger in his direction. "Sonic would never do that!"

He groaned, quills sinking. "But it's true! In the near future, his actions will cause the devastation of my world. I have to do what's right and k—" He took a step towards Sonic, one Amy matched, her hammer back in hand. Tears were in the corners of her large eyes but her expression was staunch.

"No! I don't believe it. Even if that was true, if I had to choose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!" she declared, planting her feet apart and cocking the hammer in the air. "Always! Because I know he's strong and brave and would _never_ hurt anybody no matter what! I honestly think you're mistaken, Silver, and you seem nice, but if you try to hurt him again—" She broke off as a glow formed around her hammer, then she was clinging to it and flailing as he lifted it a few feet from the ground.

" _You're_ the one that's mistaken here, Amy. I didn't want to believe you're a bad guy, but it looks like I don't have a ch—"

"You're not going to hurt Amy as long as I'm here." The hyperactive, excited hedgehog's current appearance was more of an omen of death's. He was crouched in front of Amy, an arm out protectively, with eyes narrowed to angry slits and fists trembling. He looked like a force as terrible as Iblis, he was so mad, and the sight made Silver swallow and reconsider.

"I'm not _trying_ to hurt Amy at all," he said honestly, carefully lowering her hammer to the ground but keeping a psychic grip on it so she couldn't raise it again. "It's you I want, Iblis Trigger."

"Then keep it that way! Don't involve my friends." That was a warning, and not one said in jest.

"Why should I listen to anything you say, hedgehog? Friends of a bad guy are bad guys too."

"I'm not a bad guy."

"That's not what the Doctor says." And Sonic's eyes widened, then he made a sound that was something between a scoff and a laugh.

"Eggman! That's where you're getting your information from? He's got your head all screwed up! He—" Sonic tried to continue, but suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

"He said you'd try to lie to me, but I'm not going to let you trick me!" Amy gasped and furiously pulled at her hammer to no avail. Silver pulled back his hand, his quills going erect from the energy building around him as he prepared a shockwave. He was about to give Amy her last warning when, shockingly, she released her hammer and ran up to him barehanded. She threw what looked like a simple punch at him, but the whoosh of air going past his ear felt like a gunshot.

 _This girl kills—with or without that hammer!_ he thought with dread. She swung at him from the side with the same hedgehog speed, and too late he realized all his focus was on dodging her. As he glanced behind her from the corner of his eye, he saw Sonic had disappeared. _Dang it!_

"It's no use," he muttered, freezing her where she stood. "I…can't…fight you." He lifted into the air, and made sure he was far from her throwing range before letting her go and blasting forwards towards the city's plaza.

Citizens were crowded into the square as clumps of Soleanna's guard spoke to them—he couldn't hear the words from his height, but he assumed they were trying to calm the masses. He spotted a blue blur zipping through the throngs and grimaced—he couldn't catch and fight Sonic, not with that many civilians lurking about. Either way, the Doctor had recommended he use Sonic's friends to get to him. Anybody in plain sight was a dead shot, considering how out-there powerful a little girl was, and it made Silver less willing to search out a guy named "Knuckles."

He touched down some distance from the center, the area colloquially known as the "New City" where they were a lot of empty warehouses and docks. He wondered why it was technically the new city if it was emptier than the old one as he walked the vacant streets, his boots echoing into the skies. _Soleanna is a big place,_ he thought, looking around. _In the future, there weren't too many places not consumed by lava and/or fire and/or Iblis' drones. But here, there's blue sky and cola and parties and…it's so amazing._ He clenched a fist.

"But the Iblis Trigger took it all away from us," he said aloud, coming to a stop. "And even if he pretends to be a good guy, it's the truth. To save the future, I have to kill Sonic the Hedgehog." Still, the word left a bitter taste in his mouth. He killed monsters; he killed insects. Killing a sentient being, a fellow hedgehog on top of that? It felt…inherently wrong. It wasn't any better, considering killing a twelve-year-old fluffy hedgehog, or a…what was Knuckles again?

"You'll have to get through _me_ first!"

Silver thought the punch from the black hedgehog was bad, but that punch felt like the future crashing into his present with the force of an atomic blast. He saw stars, he saw the whole freaking solar system, and he might've lost a tooth or two. By the time he managed to open his eyes without throwing up, all he could see below him was briny water— _deep_ briny water. He flailed madly before he realized he was being suspended above it, and not by his own strength.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, and you see the cost of refusing to answer." Silver's head was spinning too wildly to focus on anything besides his triple vision, and his body felt like a lead weight, but he was certain someone was holding him by the scruff of his neck.

"Who—are you?" Suddenly he was in the air, then the water was creeping up on him with alarming speed. He was sucking in his last breath when he was grabbed again, this time by his head quills. He felt as if they'd all be ripped out in one move—suffice it to say, it _hurt._

"You don't speak unless spoken to, got it?"

"Y-Yes," he managed.

"Why are you after Sonic?"

"H-He's the one that releases I-Iblis…the Iblis T-Trigger…"

"Iblis," he said slowly. Silver expected him to be confused, then he continued, "That's what the Master Emerald was showing me… You're from the future, aren't you?"

Under other circumstances, he might've been compelled to keep his mouth shut. Under those circumstances, keeping his mouth moving would be the only thing keeping him above sea level. "I am."

"Then what the Emerald showed me is already coming to pass," he muttered to himself. "Who told you Sonic is the trigger?"

"D-Doctor Eggman…"

"Eggman." He growled. "That doctor always has to stick his mustache into things, doesn't he?" Silver was suddenly and unceremoniously dumped onto his butt, but at least it was on the pier and not into the water. He watched a red echidna with spiked mitts pace in a small circle before rounding back on him, fists clenched. The knot growing on the back of Silver's head itched as he stared at them. "Whatever he told you is a lie, and if you kill Sonic, you'll be making the biggest mistake of anyone's life."

"He said you would lie—"

"We're the liars, are we?" he interrupted in a voice hard enough to break rock. "Has he given you any viable proof Sonic is the Iblis Trigger?"

"W…Well…" he murmured uneasily, tapping his fingers together. Knuckles sighed.

"You're a naïve little kid, aren't you?"

"I'm fourteen—"

"How did you expect to save your future if you believe anything any old creep tells you? You should switch your priorities around. This world is still pure and—and Angel Island still floats because of that blue pest, although I wouldn't say it to his face, and he would sooner cut off his own legs than take away anybody's future. _Eggman_ is the one you should be looking out for, and until you realize that, you won't be the hero of anyone's world, let alone yours." Silver's mind was reeling and not just from the punch anymore. He attempted to stand but his legs were still too much like jelly.

"But—"

"I don't have any more time to waste on you!" Knuckles said. "The _real_ villain here is up to his usual schemes, and Sonic needs help." He ran a few feet before leaping high into the air, and, spreading his spines like wings, he caught the breeze and glided out of view behind the buildings. Meanwhile, Silver collapsed at the edge of the pier, staring out to the setting sun of the horizon.

"Eggman…the bad guy?" he repeated softly, staring at his hands. "Then, if I work for the bad guy…doesn't that make me…?" He shook his head once, trying to laugh off the thought, but it came out weak. "I was ready to end a person's life in the name of my future, but… To kill someone to save the world, is that really the right thing to do?"

The sun didn't have an answer, and neither did Silver.


End file.
